Gilas to lock horns with familiar foes

Gilas Pilipinas is expected to have its hands full when it competes in the FIBA Asia Cup set from 5 to 17 August in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Familiar foes Jordan and China have already punched their respective tickets to the prestigious tourney at the end of the third window on Monday, making it quite challenging for the Filipinos to reassert their supremacy in this prestigious continental event.

With Dar Tucker, Freddy Ibrahim and naturalized player Rondae Hollis-Jefferson at the helm, the Jordanians made it to the Asia Cup after sweeping all of their six matches in Group D of the qualifying windows.

They capped their campaign with a 79-64 win over Saudi Arabia, which had already secured its spot in the Asia Cup being the host country.

With their spot already cemented, the Jordanians are expected to march to the Asia Cup with fire in their eyes as they get a golden chance to avenge their loss to the Filipinos in the gold-medal match of the 19th Asian Games in China two years ago.

Aside from Jordan, also determined to exact revenge on the Philippines is China.

The Chinese, who were shocked by the Filipinos in the semifinals of the Asian Games, also safely made it to the Asia Cup after winning all but one game in Group C of the six-match qualifiers.

Their only loss was a 73-76 heartbreaking decision to Japan, making them one of the teams to beat in the Asia Cup with the presence of young stars like Jinqiu Hu, Mingxuan Hu and Abudushalamu Abudurexiti.

All in all, a total of 12 teams have already made it to the Asia Cup.

Reigning champion Australia and Lebanon have also finished the qualifiers without a single loss while South Korea, Iran, Qatar, Syria, New Zealand and Japan have also already reserved their slots.

Four more slots are up for grabs and will be disputed by six teams who finished third in their respective groups.

Competing in the Qualifying Tournament for Third-Place Teams for a chance to catch the last bus headed for the Asia Cup are Thailand, Chinese Taipei, Guam, Iraq, India and Bahrain.

Thailand, Chinese Taipei and Guam will play in a round-robin event as well as Iraq, India and Bahrain with the top two from each group advancing to the Asia Cup.