The Gilas Pilipinas national men’s basketball team will get more time to prepare for the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup.
That’s because the tournament has been adjusted by two weeks, from the original schedule of August 3 to 15 to August 17 to 29.
Team Pilipinas was supposed to start its stint with with a home game against Thailand in the qualifiers on Feb. 20.
But the encounter was postponed for a later date.
After Gilas Pilipinas beat Indonesia last Feb. 23 in Jakarta and its next matches had to be called off because of the coronavirus threat.
Because of this, the next dates of their games will have to be determined.
The FIBA executive committee finalized the date of the Asia Cup, along with many international meets following a meeting last week.
The new schedule of the FIBA Asia Cup was agreed upon to avoid conflict with the Olympic Games in Tokyo, which has been moved a year and will now be played from July 23 to August 8.
“The outcome is a calendar of FIBA major events which remain very attractive for our fans, with a balanced distribution of top events, keeping always in mind the welfare and availability of players,” said FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis in a statement.
The FIBA Central Board also confirmed the suspension of all FIBA competitions on March 13, while also asking the FIBA Executive Committee to make any necessary adjustments to the FIBA calendar.
FIBA confirmed the confirmation of the revised dates for Tokyo 2020, from July 23 to August 8, 2021.
“I’m very pleased that, in a very challenging period, FIBA has been able to conduct an internal consultation process so fast and confirm an updated calendar for our senior tournaments within almost two weeks from the IOC’s announcement of the new dates for the Olympic Games,” he added.