Smart Gilas Pilipinas to face China in first round of 2011 Fiba Asia

Photo from FIBAAsia.net

Smart Gilas Pilipinas’ road to that elusive Olympic berth will have to start with perennial powerhouse China.

Along with China in Group D, the Nationals will tangle with United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in the first round of the 2011 Fiba Asia Championships in Wuhan, China this September.

As host, China had the privilege of choosing which bracket it wanted to play in—which was the Philippines’ group.

16 countries will fight nail-and-tooth in the tournament slated September 15 to 25 for that lone spot for the 2012 London Olympics.

The first and second runner ups will have another shot in the Olympic qualifiers along with teams from other continents.

Defending champion Iran leads Group B along with Chinese-Taipei, Qatar and a team from Central Asia while Lebanon, Malaysia, South Korea and another team from Central Asia complete Group A.

Japan, Indonesia, Syria and Jordan make up Group C as announced after the draw was held earlier this evening, July 6.

China’s American coach Robert Donewald recently expressed confidence that his team will book the outright ticket to the Olympics next year.

“There’s no doubt about it. Sept. 25 is the championships and we’re going to get that win,” Donewald told the China Daily. “We’ve got to win. We feel that the Chinese fans, at least, deserve to see their team at the Olympics.”

Smart Gilas Pilipinas has not yet defeated Iran, China, South Korea or Lebanon since the program began in 2008.

The Nationals, led by Naturalized Filipino Marcus Douthit, recently stamped their class in the 9th Southeast Asian Basketball Association in Jakarta wherein they topped Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.