Thank You Saudi Arabia! Good Luck Smart Gilas
Instead of the Saudis, who are a complete mystery to the Gilas squad, the nationals will now take on Kuwait in the knockout, first round phase of the tournament beginning on Nov. 13 at the Huangpu gym.
Although the Kuwaitis should not be taken lightly, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) executive director Noli Eala said they’re a better matchup for the RP squad compared to the Saudis.
“Mahirap magsalita, but I think we can handle them,” said Eala, who officially received the communication about Saudi Arabia’s withdrawal from the Guangzhou Asiad late yesterday afternoon from FIBA-Asia.
The SBP official, however, has no idea what prompted Saudi to withdraw its basketball team.
Originally part of Group A, Kuwait was moved to Group B under the new groupings made by the Asian governing body in basketball.
The San Miguel-RP team to the 2007 FIBA-Asia men’s basketball championship crossed path with Kuwait during the consolation round of the tournament, handily beating them, 89-58.
But Eala pointed out that was three years ago and a lot of things has since took place for both basketball teams of the two countries.
“They were stronger before, but remember they were suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year for government interference. So, I don’t know how their team is right now,” said the SBP executive director.
In the event the RP-Smart Gilas team gets past Kuwait, it will advance to the second round where the top four teams in each group after the single round robin advance to the quarterfinals.
Should they make it to round 2, the nationals will first meet two-time FIBA-Asia men’s champion Iran on Nov. 16 and then play Qatar the following day (Nov. 17).
After taking a break on the 18th, the RP squad resumes its campaign on Nov. 19th opposite Japan, then will have another one-day break, before concluding its campaign with back-to-back games against either Afghanistan or India (Nov 21) and Chinese Taipei (Nov. 22)
