The road taken

The Philippine national men’s basketball team ended its campaign in the FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers with a positive result, earning for the country a return trip to the quadrennial basketball spectacle later this year.
While the World Cup spot was achieved by the skin of its teeth, not as an automatic entry but by being the best fourth-placed team and with some help from the basketball gods (read: Korea), we will take it, more so for how difficult the road was for Gilas Pilipinas.
Plagued with the perennial problem of limited time to prepare, Gilas still had it solid in the first round of the qualifiers, recording a 4-2 record, second in Group B and earning a ticket to the next round.
Along the way some unfortunate events happened.
There was Kiefer Ravena being suspended for more than a year after some banned substances were found in the supplement he was taking.
Then there was the infamous brawl between Gilas and Australia in the third window in July in Bulacan that nearly wiped out the Philippine team’s roster because of the suspensions meted by FIBA after, including on coach Chot Reyes.
Heading into the second round, the team had to recalibrate behind new coach Yeng Guiao and practically a new set of players.
The team had it rough in the next two windows of the qualifiers in September and November-December, winning just one match out of four to lose some ground in the race.
Among the losses was back-to-back against Iran and Kazakhstan in the sixth window here at home, which forced Gilas to tinker with missing out on the World Cup altogether heading into the sixth final window this month.
With so much pressure on its back, Gilas dug deep and made things happen in their last two away games in the qualifiers against Qatar on Feb. 21 and Kazakhstan on Feb. 24.
Showing much determination and aggressiveness, the Philippines defeated Qatar, 84-46, and then Kazakhstan, 93-75.
The twin victories pushed Gilas’ record to 7-5, which in itself still hung precariously, no thanks to a lower quotient, until Korea gave our cause a helping hand by defeating Lebanon in their final game that sent the latter to a 6-6 card and giving the Philippines passage into the World Cup.
Following their Asian Qualifiers campaign, Gilas members heaved a huge sigh of relief, which we cannot blame them for.
I mean, at the end there was little room for error for them and there they were standing, far from unscathed, yes, but triumphant nonetheless.
After going through the kind of qualifiers it had, I expect Gilas to come out a better team heading into the World Cup.
So much lessons to draw from the road it took and so does inspiration to provide motor for the team moving forward.
Congratulations, Gilas! To the World Cup we go!
 
Michael Angelo S. Murillo has been a columnist since 2003. He is a BusinessWorld reporter covering the Sports beat.
msmurillo@bworldonline.com