THE odds are stacked against the Philippines as it fights for one of four remaining places in the men’s basketball tournament of the Paris Olympics this July in.
Matches against world no. 6 Latvia and world no. 23 Georgia will test the resolve of the Gilas Pilipinas national men’s basketball team in Group A of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament set from July 2 to 7.
Matches have been finalized and the games have been scheduled at the Arena Riga in the capital Riga on July 3, with the host squad Latvia taking on the Philippines.
The following day, the Filipinos will go up against world no. 23 Georgia.
Team Philippines seeks to be one of the qualifiers from the four stages, to join the seven directly qualified teams for the 2024 Paris Olympics, namely Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Serbia, South Sudan and USA.
France is automatically qualified as the hosts of the event.
Seven-time PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo and naturalized player Justin Brownlee are expected to report for Gilas Pilipinas duty once again, and so are veteran big man Japeth Aguilar and Mason Amos.
The 6’10” Fajardo, who is from San Miguel Beer, will reinforce the middle with the 7’3” Kai Sotto, along with the 6’7” Amos.
Also listed for the Latvia sortie are Scottie Thompson, Dwight Ramos, Calvin Oftana and AJ Edu.
CJ Perez, Chris Newsome, Carl Tamayo, Kevin Quiambao and Jaime Malonzo make up the rest of the Gilas lineup.
The top two squads will advance to a crossover preliminary round match with their rivals from Group B, which is made up of Brazil, Cameroon and Montenegro.