The preliminary rounds are over, and the surviving teams are now hunkering down for the quarterfinals at the 2014 Asian Games basketball tournament.
This time around, Gilas Pilipinas managed to break past the prelims and get into the next phase, finishing with "a 1-1 record after beating India 85-76 and narrowly missing out on a victory over powerhouse Iran in a 68-63 loss," Bleacher Report said.
In the QF round, Gilas will be facing the undefeated Qatar team Friday at 5:30 p.m. Manila time (5:30 a.m. ET). The match will be shown on Kapatid TV5, with a live stream happening on asiangames.sports5.ph, both of which are available only in the Philippines. However, EverSport will be doing a full coverage of the Games and will be featuring the Gilas Philippines vs. Qatar game.
According to Team Pilipinas, Gilas will be facing South Korea on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Philippine time, and Kazakhstan on Sunday, September 28, at 2:15 p.m. Manila time.
The Philippine team suffered a loss at the hands of 2013 FIBA Asia champions Iran Thursday. "Gilas trailed 29-17 after Iran opened with a hot-shooting first quarter but limited Iran to just 7 points in the second to trail 36-34 at the half. Gilas held a 7-point lead in the fourth quarter but was outscored 18-10 en route to the defeat," Rappler recalled. "The Philippines finished the qualifying round at 1-1 and settled for a second seed heading into the quarterfinals, while Iran remains unbeaten after wins over the Philippines and India."
The Philippines is hoping to nab its first Asian Games gold medal in more than 50 years. The last time the country's men's basketball team gained the gold in this sporting event was in 1962.
According to Bleacher Report, the key for the Philippine team will be its "defense against the Qatar duo of Khalid Suliman Abdi and Erfan Ali Saeed."
"Abdi averaged 18.5 points a game in the early going, while Saeed posted nightly averages of 13.5 points and 6.5 rebounds," the site noted.
It can be recalled that The Philippines outplayed Qatar in the 2013 Asian Games with a 10-point lead.
"The top two teams in the quarterfinal groups will advance to the final," Rappler said.
The Asian Games is the biggest sporting event in Asia, with 439 events in 36 sports, and is overseen by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). The XVII Asiad is hosted this year by South Korea and has over 13,000 athletes participating, according to Korea.net. The event, which started September 19, is slated to end on October 4.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
