Gilas Pilipinas in the first round of the 2023 Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers. FIBA PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—With South Korea officially disqualified, Philippines and its fellow teams in Group A automatically advanced to the second round of the 2023 Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
Along with the Philippines, group A leader New Zealand and India also moved on to the next round.
South Korea skipped the February qualifiers here due to COVID-19 cases within the team and its appeal to Fiba was also denied. Gilas Pilipinas was supposed to play South Korea twice.
The disqualification meant South Korea can longer qualify for the 2023 Fiba World Cup co-hosted by the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
The Philippines split its two games in the window—beating India and losing to New Zealand.
India caught a break after it moved on to the next round despite a 0-3 record due to South Korea’s exit.