PH youth team bags silver, advances to world 3×3

Photo from Fiba.com

THE PHILIPPINE basketball youth team settled for the silver medal, but still earned a berth in the world championship after bowing to Qatar in the Fiba Asia 3×3 Under-18 Championship at Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia, over the weekend.

After a thrilling semifinal win over Malaysia, the Philippines bowed to a taller Qatar side, 21-9, in the boys championship match.

Both finalists will advance to the Fiba 3×3 U18 World Championships in Chengdu, China, next year.

Qatar completed a 7-0 sweep and dealt the Philippines’ only two losses in the tournament.

The Filipinos reached the title round after slipping past Malaysia, 21-20, in the semifinals, where they capped their comeback from eight points down, 8-16, with John Lloyd Clemente’s game-winning jumper.

Clemente, along with John Martin Galinato, Rhayyan Amsali and Kyle Christian Tan, also towed the Philippines to a 21-16 triumph over Indonesia in the quarterfinals.

The Philippines opened its campaign with a loss to Qatar, 15-21. But the squad mentored by Anton Altamirano and Mark Solano bounced back against South Korea (21-9), Japan (21-15) and Vietnam (21-6) to advance to the knockout stage.

Kristine Cayabyab, Mary Ann Cayabyab, Jenilyn Gamboa and Cristel Mae Dizon represented the Philippines in the girls’ side, where they dropped all four elimination matches.

The Philippines ruled the inaugural 2013 edition behind former world slamdunk champion Kobe Paras. Jasmine W. Payo, with a report from Mikaela Calilong and Miguel de Leon