Photo from Fiba.com
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is looking to set up a practice game against China in preparation for the coming 2021 Fiba Asia Cup in Indonesia and the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Serbia.
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tab Baldwin said the team would want to take the opportunity to go up against one of the top teams in the world while they’re staying in the same facility in Clark, Pampanga.
“Our plans before that are to have some practices here in the Philippines before we fly out,” said Baldwin after Gilas beat South Korea 82-77 to sweep Group A of the Asia Cup Qualifiers Sunday at Angeles University Foundation.
“And we’re very hopeful that we might get a practice game against China, who is also staying here before they go to Canada for more preparations for themselves.”
The Philippines finished the Asia Cup Qualifiers with a 6-0 record and will go to Indonesia as one of the top teams in the tournament.
China, meanwhile, is the No. 29 team in the world and the No. 4 team in Fiba’s Asia region behind Australia, Iran, and New Zealand.
“Every game that we can get for these young men is extremely important. It will help us prepare,” said Baldwin. “China’s an elite Asian team. So if we get a chance to play against them, that’ll be that’ll be great for us.”
China, as of posting time, is playing against Chinese-Taipei in the final game of the third window in the Philippines. China is 3-0 in the tournament.