Gilas Pilipinas headed to Qatar for Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers

MANILA, Philippines—Qatar has taken up the hosting duties for the third window of the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup Qualifiers.

Fiba announced the development on Thursday with Groups A, where Gilas Pilipinas belongs, B, and E now set to play their February qualifying games in Doha.

The Philippines was supposed to host Groups A and C in Clark, Pampanga but that was scrapped because of new travel restrictions imposed by the government.

Qatar readily volunteered to host the 12 national teams, also setting up a bubble environment for the competition.

🇶🇦 Qatar to host Group A: 🇵🇭🇹🇭🇰🇷🇮🇩 for February 2021 #FIBAAsiaCup Qualifiers window‼️

👉 https://t.co/EobNMhNUHE

— FIBA Asia Cup (@FIBAasiacup) January 28, 2021

Gilas Pilipinas, who needs just one more win to qualify for the Asia Cup, currently holds the top spot in Group A with a 3-0 record and will face Korea twice and Indonesia once in Doha.

Though the Clark bubble was canceled, Gilas continued to train at Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba.

Other teams in Doha are Group B’s Japan, China, Malaysia, and Chinese Taipei while Group E is composed of host nation Qatar, Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.