By REYNALD MAGALLON
Gilas dropped three places to No.39 in the FIBA men’s world ranking following a winless run in the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers.
The Nationals were previously on the No. 36 spot in the world rankings but slipped to a lower placing after a 106-102 overtime loss to New Zealand and a 92-49 drubbing at the hands of Australia in the pair of road games in the qualifiers.
Gilas remained as the seventh best team in the Asia-Pacific region with the Boomers still topping the list despite sliding one spot to No. 7 in the world.
Japan is still at the second spot at No.22 while New Zealand, which also slipped one spot, is at third spot in the region at No.25. Iran leapfrogged China in the world rankings, jumping two spots to No. 26 while the latter dropped four spots to No.30.
Lebanon also improved two spots to No. 31 to stay as the sixth best team in the region while Jordan followed Gilas at the eighth spot after keeping its No.41 world ranking.
Korea at No.57 and Saudi Arabia at No. 65 completed in the Top 10 from the Asian region.
In the second round of the qualifiers, Iran is the only team ranked higher than Gilas with Jordan and Syria (No. 74). In the standings, however, Team Melli and Team Falcons hold a better standing than the Nationals with similar 5-1 records.
Gilas will open the fourth window of the qualifiers against Jordan on Aug. 28 and Iran on Aug. 30, both games at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Meanwhile, not much change happened in the top teams in the ranking with USA, Germany, Serbia, France and Canada still sitting in the Top 5. Spain took the sixth spot from Australia while Argentina remained at No. 8. Brazil and Lithuania, meanwhile, just exchanged places to round out the Top 10
