MANILA – The Philippines’ men’s basketball team tumbled down eight spots in the latest world rankings released by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) on Monday.
From its previous standing of 33rd place, the Vincent “Chot” Reyes-mentored Gilas Pilipinas slipped to 41st place following its recent humiliating losses and worst tournament finishes.
The Philippines, which is set to co-host the 2023 FIBA World Cup competition, has now fallen behind South Korea (34th), Jordan (35th), and Japan (38th) in the Asia-Pacific region.
Hurting the national men’s basketball team’s world rankings is its 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifier first round losses to New Zealand, 88-63, on Feb. 27 and 106-60 on June 30.
In the fourth window just last month, Gilas Pilipinas also suffered an 85-81 defeat to Lebanon despite the presence of Utah Jazz star Jordan Clarkson before bouncing back with a lopsided win over Saudi Arabia.
Compounding Gilas Pilipinas’ recent woes was their ninth-place finish in the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup after failing to reach even the quarterfinals round. It was Team Philippines’ worst finish in the tournament in 15 years.
Not included in the FIBA world rankings parameters but the national men’s basketball team also settled for a silver medal finish in the Hanoi Southeast Asian Games following a stunning defeat to Indonesia.
Australia Boomers, which ruled the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup, remained the highest-ranked team in Asia at No. 3, followed by Iran at 21st, New Zealand at 24th, and China at 27th.
Lebanon, which defeated the Gilas Pilipinas twice in the past few months, also climbed up 10 spots to rise to no. 43, just two rungs behind the Philippines men’s basketball squad.
The United States of America and newly-crowned FIBA Eurobasket champion Spain remain at first and second in the world while Argentina and France complete the top five, in that order./PN
