Despite low morale, Kiefer Ravena says Gilas out for redemption vs China

Veteran guard Kiefer Ravena admitted that after Gilas Pilipinas lost to South Sudan — their fourth defeat in the 2023 FIBA World Cup — the morale of the squad is definitely low as they remained winless in their campaign.

"Obviously bilang tao, bilang competitor ayaw mong natatalo so 'yung morale mo bababa talaga and character is how you determine these players," Ravena said on the heels of an 87-68 loss to South Sudan on Thursday.

("Obviously, as a person and a competitor, you don't like losing so morale will really go down and character is how you determine these players.")

The Philippines formally crashed out of the race for direct qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics as the loss, coupled with a Japan win against Venezuela earlier in the day, erased whatever chance the country had.

Still, Ravena is upbeat ahead of their last classification phase match against Asian rival China this Saturday.

"We have one more chance of redeeming ourselves against China. Obviously they want to kinda secure that Olympics spot. So basically it (Japan's win) cancels out our Olympic contention but, nevertheless, we want to get a win," Ravena added.

"I mean, to be honest, morale-wise, it's really not good. We tried to keep it afloat."

Despite the adversity the nationals are facing, Ravena stressed there's no time for sulking as they will try to finish the World Cup on a winning note against China, who earlier won against Angola to keep its own Olympics hopes alive.

"We're gonna try to pick each other up and then still sail the boat that we have to be on the same page and together. Gano'n naman e, kung matatalo kami, together. Kung mananalo man kami, together din."

("We're gonna try to pick each other up and then still sail the boat that we have to be on the same page and together. It's like that, if we lose, it's together. If we win, we also win together.")

—JMB, GMA Integrated News