Gilas Pilipinas revelation Terrence Romeo defies a tough South Korean defender to score on an acrobatic layup in the team's game against South Korea in the 2015 Jones Cup on Aug. 31. Romeo scored a game-high 23 points but Gilas lost the game, 70-82, one of its two losses in the tournament, the other being to Iran, 65-74, on Sept. 2, 2015. Jay R. Gotera Saudi Gazette
MANILA — The Philippines has climbed a notch higher in the FIBA Asia power ranking, from fourth to third place, with Iran remaining firmly on top and China just behind at second place days before the 2015 FIBA Asia championship scheduled in Changsha, China, on Sept. 23 to Oct. 3 this year. In an official announcement on its website Wednesday, FIBA Asia said the ranking for the 16 teams competing for the Asian basketball championship was based on the team's respective player compositions and preparations for the biennial tournament. The rankings have no mathematical or theoretical grounding, FIBA said, and are based entirely on experts' opinions, which in turn are gauged on player injuries, eligibility issues, training camp reports, and pre-tournament game results. The result of the 2015 William Jones Cup in Taipei just last week was one of the gauges used to rank the teams. In that annual tournament, Iran was the runaway champion, winning seven games and losing only once, against a team from the United States. Towering center Hamed Haddadi and wily guard Mahdi Kamrani were named to the tournament's Mythical Five. Samad Nikkhah Bahrami, another highly rated player, skipped the tournament due to injury but is expected to join the Iranian squad in Changsha. China remains the second best basketball team in Asia, although the team has not been making much noise lately, preferring to hold training camp at home after a series of tune-up games abroad. The Chinese team is powered by center Yi Jianlian, Wang Zhelin, Zhou Qi, and Li Muhao. The Philippines, whose team is known as Gilas Pilipinas, played impressively in the Jones Cup, taking the silver medal after finishing with six wins and two defeats (against Iran and South Korea). The Filipinos were impressive even without naturalized center Andray Blatche and Filipino-American NBA star Jordan Clarkson. On Tuesday, Gilas Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin revealed the composition of the 12-man team that will see action in Changsha. Making it to the team aside from Blatche are Calvin Abueva, Ranidel de Ocampo, Matthew Allen Ganuelas, Dondon Hontiveros, JC Intal, Gabe Norwood, Marc Pingris, Terrence Romeo, Asi Taulava, Sonny Thoss, and Jayson Castro, who will again use his real surname William. Clarkson was cut from the team despite having secured clearance from the Los Angeles Lakers' management. The reason given for his non-inclusion was Gilas' failure to beat the deadline for securing clearance from FIBA Asia to let Clarkson play for the Philippines. Now reinforced by Blatche, the Gilas Pilipinas squad will have its final tune-up games later this week when it goes up against two foreign teams —Chinese Taipei and Wellington Saints of New Zealand — plus the PBA's Talk N Text Tropang Texters in MVP Cup slated on Sept. 11 to 13 at Smart Araneta Coliseum. Gilas defeated both Chinese Taipei and the New Zealand team in last week's Jones Cup. The Talk N Text Tropang Texters will be bannered by their new top draftees Moala Tautuaa and Troy Rosario, who were with Gilas in Jones Cup. Incidentally, Chinese Taipei finished third in the Jones Cup despite having the same win-loss record as Gilas (6-2). The team is placed fourth in the FIBA Asia power ranking. South Korea, formerly occupying third place in the FIBA Asia power ranking, fell to fifth place as a result of its inconsistent showing in the Jones Cup where it finished fifth with a 4-4 win-loss record. The rest of the teams in the FIBA Asia power rankings are: (6) Jordan, (7) Japan, (8) Kazakhstan, (9) Qatar, (10) Lebanon, (11) Palestine, (12) Kuwait, (13) India, (14) Hong Kong, (15) Malaysia, and (16) Singapore.
