How Gilas can clinch Olympic berth in FIBA World Cup classification round

Gilas Pilipinas may have been eliminated from contention in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, but that doesn’t mean their final two games in the classification round have no bearing.

Everything is still on the line for Gilas and several other teams in the competition as spots in the 2024 Paris Olympics are up for grabs for the best Asian and African team in this tournament.

So what does that mean for Gilas? It means that if they can finish with the highest place among all the other Asian teams, who were all relegated to the 17th to 32nd place classification round, then they would be headed to their first Olympic basketball tournament since 1972.

But how exactly do they get there?

The bottom two teams of each first round group were knocked out, but formed a new four-team group with their neighbors for the classification round. Gilas, in this case, are grouped with fellow Group A team Angola and Group B teams South Sudan and China in Group M.

There are three other groups to watch out for, including Group N, which has Asian team Jordan, Group O, which has Japan, and Group P, which has Iran and Lebanon.

Each team will play two games against the teams in their group that they haven’t faced yet. Gilas already played Angola in the group phase, so they will play South Sudan and China.

At the end of the two games, the teams that have the best record in their groups will be classified from 17th to 20th place, the second-best squads will be 21st to 24th, the third-placers will be 25th to 28th, while the last-placers will be 29th to 32nd.

The tricky part is that records from the first round carry over, which means Japan, which won a game in the first round, is already in the best position among the Asian teams.

But if Gilas can take care of business in their two games, especially in their head-to-head with China, and depending on the results of the other Asian squads, like Japan, then they could give themselves a shot to finish as the Best Asian team, and with that title, the spot in the Olympics.

Keep updated on the classification round results here:

Group M schedule and results

Aug 31: China def. Angola, 83-76: China bolsters Olympics hopes with crucial win vs Angola in classification phase
Aug 31: Philippines v South Sudan
Sep 2: Angola v South Sudan
Sep 2: Philippines vs China

—JMB, GMA Integrated News