Batang Gilas blasts UAE five, avoids U17 cellar

For Batang Gilas coach Jamike Jarin, the mere presence of the Philippines in the world championship is already a rare feat in itself.

Batang Gilas capped its initial trip to the world stage with an emphatic 115-51 demolition of host United Arab Emirates at the close of the Fiba U17 World Championship on Saturday night.

“Being here is already an achievement. We made history,” said Jarin after the Philippines placed 15th out of 16 countries in the 10-day tournament held in Dubai.

“Iran is not here, South Korea is not here, but the Philippines is here. We’re so proud of what we have achieved and we surely gave our best,” added Jarin.

Though Batang Gilas lost six of its seven outings, Jarin is convinced that the experience would make the Philippines a better team in future global tournaments.

“Our goal is to compete in the world level every year,” he said. “We already broke the barrier, so we should do our best to stay here. We should always represent Asia in world-class youth tournaments.”

Aside from the Philippines, Fiba U16 Asia Championship gold medalist China and Japan also showed up against the best in the world.

Batang Gilas, which seized a slot in the worlds following a silver-medal finish in the Asian championship last year, lost by an average of 26.1 points to the United States, Angola, Greece, France and Argentina.

The Filipinos could have fought for 13th place but lost to Egypt in the classification round, consigning them to a square-off with UAE for the crumbs.

Paul Desiderio paced Batang Gilas with 25 points while Mike Nieto and Michael dela Cruz added 15 each for the Filipinos, who got a huge support from the pro-Filipino crowd at the Al Shabab Arena.