Gilas Pilipinas leaves for Greece on Friday to embark on a grueling three-week trip that would be the meat of its preparations for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament set in Manila from July 5-10.
Tab Baldwin named 14 players to the pool, making Marcio Lassiter as the last cut for the European trip with the San Miguel Beer sharpshooter far from being in perfect health after a terrible bout with bronchopneumonia.
The Nationals on Wednesday night brought down an Iranian national team that showed up minus its three best players, but an 81-70 victory at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao still showed the vast potential of this batch of Gilas players that will be tasked to take the Philippines back to the Olympics in less than a month.
“We’re getting better, but it’s still a long way’s away,” Baldwin told Arab News after the game, minutes before he made Lassiter as the final cut.
Marc Pingris, who will earn another tour of duty as a National, is asking the entire country and its basketball-crazy populace to keep on supporting the Gilas Five as they embark on what seems like mission impossible in the Qualifying tournament.
“Please continue to support and pray for us,” Pingris said. “It would mean a lot.”
Aside from the well wishes and the prayers, the Nationals will be buckling down to hard work as they face tremendous odds in the Qualifier. And who knows, the country might just spring a surprise.
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Team Philippines will be clashing with New Zealand and France in the tournament set at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, and the Filipinos would need to win at least one of those games in order to advance to the crossover Final Four.
Turkey, Canada and Senegal are the other teams belonging to the other group, with the likely semifinalists – no offense meant to the Senegalese – looking to be the Turks and the Canadians.
Only the champion in this qualifier will make it to the main draw of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics set in August, and the Philippines would have to score reversals – yes, several – of mammoth proportions in order to make it back to the Games for the first time in more than four decades.
But as the saying goes, the ball has always been round and anything can still happen.
And coupled with the prayers of an entire nation, we never can tell what could truly happen, even if the Philippines installed as the terrible underdogs against any of those teams mentioned above.
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Baldwin had just one question that stood out after the game, when someone asked the mild-mannered coach on what he thought about the crowd that showed up during the exhibition game.
“To tell you honestly, I was thinking that it (Araneta Coliseum) would be full,” Baldwin said. “I just thought that people would be rolling over themselves to get in because this is their national team.
“If Ginebra can fill this venue (during PBA games), why can’t Gilas?” Baldwin asked.
The Nationals played in front of a crowd that wouldn’t be more than 8,000. Though those who showed up cheered Gilas hoarse, especially in the endgame when the Iranians came to within two after being down by as large as 23, it was really strange that the Big Dome didn’t cater to a full house that night.
“I appreciate those who came tonight, but I was really expecting to see a lot more (of the Filipino fans),” Baldwin said. “This is your team, you should cheer this team roundly and loudly each night.”
Several factors could have contributed to that, but Baldwin can be sure that when tournament time comes, the Mall of Asia Arena will be packed to the rafters.
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June Mar Fajardo, the most dominant big man in the PBA these days, struggled against the Iranians, finishing with just three points and three rebounds in under 12 minutes.
The 6-foot-10 giant, the reigning two-time PBA MVP, clearly was a tad slower than his Iranian counterparts, and this was a cause of alarm for Baldwin, who obviously would want to get more out of Fajardo for the Filipinos to contend in the Quaifiers.
“June Mar has to be big, quick and fast,” Baldwin said. “The more he does that, the more we are going to be able to tap in to his skill set. Once he plays the game at an increased pace and tempo, we can avail of his skills.”
Baldwin reiterated that playing against the Kiwis and the French will take the Philippines into unchartered terrain, that the PBA brand of play would not be able to help the Filipinos against those two foes.
“It’s a different type of basketball, a different level of team depth when you talk of national teams from Canada and Europe,” Baldwin said.
Make no mistake about it, Baldwin knows what we will be up against in less than four weeks.
But like the way the Philippines played in the World Cup in Spain two years ago, my gut feel is that the Filipinos will again make the world take a second look at them.
My only hope is that we go all the way this time and for our National team to be not content just giving our opponents a scare.
Gilas Pilipinas needs prayers for mission impossible
Gilas Pilipinas needs prayers for mission impossible
Rublev marches on, Bublik and Draper fall at Dubai Tennis Championships
- No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev, the 2022 champion, dispatches Ugo Humbert in epic three setter 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3
- Tallon Griekspoor upsets No. 2 seed Alexander Bublik in straight sets to set-up quarterfinal clash with No. 6 seed Jakub Mensik
DUBAI: Andrey Rublev signaled his determination to reclaim the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title on Wednesday, as the ruthless Russian dispatched fellow former champion Ugo Humbert in a titanic, three-set tussle on center court.
As a two-time finalist in Dubai and the winner there in 2022, Rublev already has fond memories of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium. Meanwhile Humbert, who has also tasted success in Dubai having edged Alexander Bublik to the title in 2024, was looking to tame a second former winner in the space of 24 hours after eliminating reigning champion Stefanos Tsitsipas on Tuesday.
In the early stages of the match a smattering of vocal young fans stirred up an endless cacophony of noise from all four grandstands as the near-capacity crowd repeatedly serenaded both players with cries of “Let’s go, Andrey” and “Allez, Ugo,” the even split among the supporters mirroring the evenly matched contest.
The nail-biter of a match went with serve for the first six games before, as is so often the case in professional tennis, the seventh proved to be a critical turning point. Rublev took advantage of two break points afforded by a pair of uncharacteristic double-faults by Humbert to achieve what Tsitsipas had failed to do in the entirety of their Round of 32 clash: he broke the Frenchman.
The set then resettled into a familiar pattern as the pair once again held serve amid minimal threats. And so, after 41 minutes of the back-and-forth, Rublev claimed the opening set 6-4 courtesy of that sole break of serve.
The second set mirrored the first, this time with both players avoiding a break of serve, until Humbert, the current world No. 37, narrowly edged the tiebreak 7-5 to even the match.
With very little separating the battling duo at this point, their seesaw duel was akin to two prize fighters exchanging punches with neither able to land a decisive blow. Buoyed no doubt by the feverish support from their respective fans, both players refused to buckle.
But then, with the third set tied at 1-1, Rublev held serve, broke and held again to win three straight games and move 4-1 ahead. The match then, predictably, once again went with serve until it was 5-3.
Then Humbert, facing the prospect of elimination, suddenly found himself with two break points as his opponent wobbled while serving for the match. The steely Russian held his nerve, however, and dispatched a trio of massive serves, including two aces, to reverse the deficit and set up his first match-point.
That was all the 28-year-old needed, as another huge serve forced a Humbert error and sealed the match 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3.
“It was a very dramatic ending,” Rublev said. “I’m really happy I was able to keep going and save the last game.
“It’s difficult to close a match; you can make a double-fault or a mistake, but I made three good serves and that helped me a lot. It’s much easier to win points from the serve than playing rallies every time.”
He commended his opponent, saying: “Ugo played really well. I took my two break chances but he served unbelievably all match. He shoots super hard and very fast, so it’s not easy to do something. I had to be ready for the one chance to break him in a set, and I got those chances and was able to do it.
“This match gives me a lot of confidence, so we’ll see what will happen in the quarterfinal. I’m playing well, so let’s see.”
Rublev now faces another Frenchmen, Arthur Rinderknech, who emerged victorious from a grueling three-set marathon against the British No. 4 seed, Jack Draper, 7-5, 6-7, 6-4.
Their match, which finished well after midnight and with an eerie mist hovering over center court, yielded only two breaks of serve, both of which went Rinderknech’s way. Despite the defeat, Draper can head home with his head held high as his return to top-level tennis continues after a six-month injury layoff.
On the new court 1, Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands pulled off the biggest upset of the day by taming No. 2 seed Alexander Bublik in straight sets 6-3, 7-5. The win earned the world No. 25 a quarterfinal encounter with No. 6 seed Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic, who made short work of the Australian, Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-2.
