With tickets sold out, Filipinos steal homecourt edge in Taipei

Gilas Pilipinas captain Jimmy Alapag gets love from Filipino fans in Seville, Spain during the Philippines’ win over Senegal 2014 Fiba World Cup. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

TAIPEI – Just like any tournament Gilas Pilipinas plays in, tickets have been the perennial problem.

The Filipinos will be playing to a packed house in practically all of their games in the 37^th Jones Cup here, with tickets featuring Gilas having been gobbled up by homesick Overseas Filipino Workers wanting a glimpse of home in whatever way.

Starting with the game against bitter rival Chinese Taipei-A on Sunday night, team manager Butch Antonio said that tickets have practically been sold out, guaranteeing that the Filipinos will have veritable homecourt edge every time.

Filipino fans have been recognized for their passion in the Fiba World Cup in Seville, Spain last year, where they were awarded with the Most Valuable Fans citation by the world governing body after throwing their all-out support to Gilas the whole time.

It was also this passion for the game that the Philippines used in making a losing pitch to host the 2019 World Cup, with China barely surviving a “double overtime” decision after using its infrastructure and economy in its presentation.

Gilas coach Tab Baldwin is also unpurturbed when told that his charges will be playing in hostile territory against the Taiwanese.

“These are PBA players that we have here, and PBA players are used to playing in crowds that don’t want them to win,” Baldwin said after wrapping up morning drills Sunday morning to prepare for the Taiwanese.

“Partisan crowd? It’s not much of a factor for us,” said Baldwin, who, after playing the home team on Sunday night, will find out that even in this very foreign land, he will be playing practically on home soil the rest of the way.