By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

WON its opener in the Asian Qualifiers for the FIBA World Cup 2019 last Friday in Japan, Gilas Pilipinas looks to sustain its winning form when it plays today against Chinese Taipei in Group B action set at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

While it struggled to establish fluidity in its game on both ends of the court all throughout the match, the Philippine national team did just enough to stave off the Akasuki Five, 77-71, in the latter’s home turf and book its first win in the qualifiers.

Jayson William led Gilas to the tough win, finishing with 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

Naturlized player Andray Blatche had it rough on offense, shooting just 36% on the floor, finishing with 13 points to go along with 12 rebounds and five assists.

Matthew Wright had 12 points while veteran Gabe Norwood had 10.

Now playing at home, Gilas hopes to perform better in front of the hometown fans and notch a win over Chinese Taipei and establish a good cushion in the qualifiers.

In the Asian Qualifiers, the top three teams in the four groupings advance to the next stage of the competition.

Upon arriving in Manila at the weekend, the Chot Reyes-coached nationals went straight to practice to stay in “tournament mode.”

BOUNCE BACK
Out to spoil Gilas’ homecoming is Chinese Taipei, which lost its group opener at home against Australia, 101-66, also last Friday.

Chinese Taipei never really got it going against Australia, which dominated from start to finish.

Naturalized player Quincy Davis III led the team with 17 points with forward Cheng Liu and big man Kuan-Chuan Chen scoring 10 points apiece.

The just-started qualifiers is the first stretch of six home and away games for competing teams during competition windows set by world basketball governing body FIBA in its new competition system.

The next windows are in February and June next year.

Meanwhile, consortia between Argentina and Uruguay and among the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia were short-listed as finalists to host the FIBA World Cup in 2023, the basketball body announced recently.

FIBA said both candidates submitted host nation agreements on the deadline day to confirm their interest in holding the 19th edition of the competition.

“We are pleased to announce Argentina/Uruguay and Indonesia/Japan/Philippines as the final two candidates in the running to host the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. In recent years, we have seen the way in which several countries teaming up to stage our biggest tournaments has been successful. This was the case at the last two editions of the FIBA EuroBasket as well as at FIBAAfroBasket 2017 and the FIBA AmeriCup 2017. We are fully confident this formula will also work to great effect for our flagship competition. Furthermore, these are countries with rich basketball traditions and passionate fans,” said Patrick Baumann, FIBA secretary-general and International Olympic Committee member, in a statement shared to global sports media.

The two bidders, FIBA said, will present their candidatures to FIBA’s Central Board Dec. 9 in the following order — Indonesia/Japan/Philippines and Argentina/Uruguay.

The hosts of the competition will be announced on that day following a vote by the Central Board.

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