Sa kauna-unahang pagkakataon makalipas ang 45 taon, muling magho-host ang Pilipinas ng FIBA World Cup.
Taong 1978 ng unang dinala rito ang pinakamalaking torneo sa basketball sa pamumuno ni Lito Puyat, ang dating presidente ng International Basketball Federation (FIBA) at siya ring namumuno sa Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP).
Pero mas matagal ang panahong pangungulila ng Philippine baketball sa Olympics kung saan mahigit limang dekada na simula ng huling sumalang sa prestihiyosong torneo ang Pinoy cagers.
Sa nakaraang special session ng Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum na ginawa sa Meralco Function Hall, sinabi ni Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) president Al Panlilio ang pagnanais nilang makatungtong sa Olympics bilang pangunahing misyon ng asosasyon bukod pa sa pagsasagawa ng world-class hosting sa pinakamalaking torneo na gagawin sa bansa.
“We haven’t hosted the World Cup since 1978,”ang sabi ni Panlilio. “It’s even been much longer for the Olympics in basketball, 1972. I still recall the poster of (Robert) Jaworski I had in my room.”
Ayon kay Panlilio, ang matagal na panahong paghihintay para makapasok sa pintuan ng Olympics ang siyang nagsisilbing malaking motivation ng bawat isa hindi lamang sa SBP kung hindi maging ang bawat miyembro ng Gilas Pilipinas.
“It’s been awhile. We want to be the best Asian-ranking team. I was in practice the other night. Everybody was there. Even Scottie was there, so that’s a positive news. Now the difficulty for the coaches now is naming the final 12 and I have to say thank you to everybody who have sacrificed in the pool for Gilas, not being guaranteed a spot, including Justin Brownlee, thank you very much for what you’ve done and contributed to this journey.”
“We want to perform our very best. My gut feel, we’ll do our best to achieve it. Hope we can win these two games. Our best World Cup is we won one game in 2014 against Senegal and unfortunately, we didn’t win anything in 2019 in Beijing,” dagdag pa ni Panlilio.
Sa ngayon, puspusan ang paghahanda ng buong koponan ng Gilas para sa papalapit na FIBA World Cup sa 25 Agosto.
Para makapasok sa Olympics na gagawn sa Paris sasusunod na taon, kailangangan ng Pilipinas na maging No.1 Asian team sa FIBA World Cup, kung saan makikipagbakbakan sila sa puwestuhan sa mga mahihigpit na karibal sa rehiyon gaya ng China, Iran, Japan, Jordan at Lebanon.
“Hopefully we could win two and if we do that, we go to the next round and eventually, we play for a spot for the Olympics,” dagdag pa ni Panlilio.
Taong 2015 nang kamuntikan na makuha ng Gilas ang automatic spot para sa 2016 Rio de Janiero Olympics, pero tinalo ang Pilipinas ng China sa gold medal match.
Dahil dito, kinaiangan ng Gilas na dumaan sa mas matinding pagsubok at lumaban sa Olympic Qualifying Tournament noong 2016 at muling mabigo.
“I told the team the other night that the prize is a spot in the Olympics and we’ve not been there since 1972. The team knows it. That’s something they want to achieve and wow, if we can achieve that, it would be great for the country,” dagdag pa ni Panlilio.
