By MARK REY MONTEJO
After giving world No. 9 Japan “hell” on Monday night, Gilas Pilipinas hopes to nail its first win when it battles Lebanon in the 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup at the Shenzhen Sports Center in China Wednesday, July 16.
With an aim of staying in the Top Six to secure a ticket to the World Cup qualifiers, the Nationals must prevail over the Lebanese in their 1:30 p.m. showdown.
Both squads are winless so far and the victor could put itself next to Australia and Japan in Group B where top spot earner advances outright to the semifinal, while second and third would battle it out for the other semis berth.
Gilas also needed to prevail if it wanted to keep its place in the Division A as the eighth-place country at the end of the competition will be relegated to Division B in the 2027 edition of the meet.
Same goes to Group A where China and South Korea are leading so far while Indonesia and New Zealand trail behind.
After absorbing a 115-39 beatdown from world No. 2 Australia, the No. 44 Philippines came close to pulling off a massive upset against Japan although the Nationals’ fightbback fell short, 85-82.
But coach Pat Aquino intends to use their gallant effort as a motivation in their duel against the Lebanese, who are currently ranked No. 54.
“A tough loss but a good bounce back from yesterday’s game (against Australia), I think the girls… they have the grit now, they’re playing together,” said Aquino during the post-game’s press conference.
“And hopefully, if we get one more game as good as this, we’ll be okay,” he added.
Jack Animam must continue her splendid outing for the Nationals, especially after a double-double output in their game against Japan she went toe-to-toe against veteran and 2020 Olympic silver medalist Maki Takada.
