Gilas Pilipinas has good chance against African teams

It may be safe to say that when Philippine team coach Chot Reyes spoke of his intention to win “one or two” in the FIBA Basketball World Cup next year, he wasn’t talking of defending champion United States or host Spain.

Depending on the draw, those couple of victories could come from any of the three from the 16 nations set to compete in the 2013 FIBA Africa Championship from Aug. 20-31 at the Palais des Sports de Treichville, Abidjan in the Ivory Coast.

GROUP A: Egypt, Senegal, Algeria and the host country

GROUP B: Tunisia, Rwanda, Burkina-Faso and Morocco

GROUP C: Angola, Central African Republic, Mozambique and Cape Verde

GROUP D: Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo and Mali.

The top three African nations advance to the world stage.

In the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Istanbul, Turkey, FIBA Africa was represented by Angola, Ivory Coast and Tunisia.

Angola won two games out of five in Group A, routing, 79-65, Jordan – from FIBA Asia along with China, Iran and wild card Lebanon – and edging Germany, a wild card entry from FIBA Europe, 92-88, in overtime.

Tunisia dropped all five preliminary games in Group B, falling to Iran, 71-58, while Ivory Coast won one in Group C, downing Puerto Rico, 88-79, and counting among its losses, an 83-73, setback to China.

The Chinese (1-5 ) finished 16th, Iran (1-4) 19th, and Jordan (0-5) 23rd. Lebanon, slapped an indefinite suspension by FIBA a week before the 2013 Asian Championship recently, came in 21st that year with a 1-4 slate, beating Canada, 81-71.

In 2009 in Tianjin, Jordan beat the Philippines, 81-70, in the quarterfinals of the Asian tournament, going on to finish third in the Istanbul FIBA World qualifier after routing Lebanon, 80-66. The Filipinos settled for eighth, falling yet again to South Korea, 82-80, for the seventh spot.

Other than the three coming from Africa, the 2014 world championship, set Aug. 30-Sept. 14 in six venues around Spain, also awaits four qualifiers from the Americas after the Aug. 30-Sept. 11 tournament in Venezuela, and six from Europe after the Sept. 4-11 competition in Slovenia.

Three years ago, 14 countries paid 500,000 euros (approximately P29 million) to apply for a wild card to the 2010 FIBA World Cup, with Lithuania, which eventually finished third, Russia (7th), Germany (17th) and Lebanon, gaining passage.

Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski coached Kevin Durant, Lamar Odom and the United States Redeem Team to the gold medal in that world championship, beating host Turkey, 81-64, in the final. Lithuania defeated Serbia, 99-88, for the bronze.

article source: mb.com.ph

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