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Philippine National Men’s Basketball Team: Gilas Pilipinas vs. Australia - Sounds Of The Game.

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Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara admitted Wednesday that beating Fiba’s July 15 deadline to clear the necessary requirements for a naturalized player to be eligible in the coming World Cup won’t be easy.

“It’s a tall order but we will try our best,” Angara, Senate Committee chairman on Games, Amusement and Sports, told INQUIRER in a text message Wednesday.

Angara filed Senate Bill No. 2108 on February 5 granting Filipino citizenship to American Andray Blatche, who plays center for the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA, to fortify Gilas Pilipinas’ bid in the World Cup this August.

Gilas coach Chot Reyes said yesterday it was almost expected that despite its mass market clout, China wouldn’t be awarded one of four wildcard tickets to the FIBA World Cup to be played in six Spanish venues on Aug. 30-Sept. 14.

There were 15 countries that applied for wildcard slots and paid the corresponding donation, reportedly 500,000 Euros or about P30 Million, to the FIBA coffers. London Olympic third placer Russia, 2016 Olympic host Brazil, Turkey (the Turkish appliance and consumer electronics company Beko is a major sponsor) and China were early favorites to join the 20 outright qualifiers. But last Saturday, the FIBA Central Board met here and chose No. 7 Turkey, No. 10 Brazil, No. 5 Greece and No. 39 Finland to play in the World Cup. Aside from Russia and China, left out were Germany, Italy, Canada, Venezuela, Israel, Poland, Nigeria, Qatar and Bosnia-Herzogovina.

Here is the procedure for the Official Draw of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup taking place on February 4 at 2:00am Philippine time.
• Pot 1: Argentina, Lithuania, Spain and USA. This pot consists of the top four teams in FIBA’s Men Ranking (#1 USA; #2 Spain; #3 Argentina; #4 Lithuania).

For the next five pots, the sequence does not reflect the strength of the teams:
• Pot 2: Angola, Egypt, Senegal and Finland.
• Pot 3: Iran, Korea, Philippines and New Zealand.
• Pot 4: Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
• Pot 5: Brazil, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
• Pot 6: Australia, France, Greece and Turkey.

(FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Here is the procedure for the Official Draw of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup taking place on Monday February 3 at 7pm CET (February 4, 2014 / 2:00AM Manila time).

- The 24 teams have been classified on the basis of the FIBA Ranking Men as well as geographical principles with teams from the same continent being evenly distributed in six teams pots. Teams will be picked from these pots and placed into the four Preliminary Round groups – A, B, C and D.

• Pot 1: Argentina, Lithuania, Spain and USA. This pot consists of the top four teams in FIBA’s Men Ranking (#1 USA; #2 Spain; #3 Argentina; #4 Lithuania).
For the next five pots, the sequence does not reflect the strength of the teams:
• Pot 2: Angola, Egypt, Senegal and Finland.
• Pot 3: Iran, Korea, Philippines and New Zealand.

FIBA Asia communications head S. Mageshwaran said the PBA should move the Governors’ Cup to give the national team more time to prepare and allow its best players to join Gilas Pilipinas for the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

“The third and final conference of the PBA, the Governor’s Cup, can be – and in my opinion should be – put off in support of the national team,” he wrote in a column on the FIBA Asia website.

Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose will consider it an honor if he is chosen to be a part of the team that will represent the United States in the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain.

“I mean, if they pick me, yeah,” Rose said Monday in Manila when asked if he wants to join Team USA. “If they select me on the team, it will be an honor.”