The members of the philippine national basketball team that reached the final of the 2015 fiBA Asia championship round (seated from left) jc intal, terrence romeo, calvin Abueva, jayson castro, ranidel de ocampo, dondon hontiveros (standing from left) assistant coach josh reyes, team manager Butch Antonio, Matt Ganuelas-rosser, sonny thoss, Andray Blatche, Asi taulava, Marc pingris, Gabe norwood, assistant coaches jong uichico and Alex compton. Gilas pilipinas is playing for the gold medal and an outright berth in the rio olympics against powerhouse china as of press time. iran won the bronze medal by defeating japan, 68-63.
Malacañang is hoping for the victory of Gilas Pilipinas against China in a finals duel in the FIBA Asia Championship scheduled late Saturday evening.
In a radio interview, Palace deputy spokesman Abigail Valte said Malacañang is confident that Gilas Pilipinas will prevail over host China.
“Confident po tayo that once again itatayo na naman po ng Gilas Pilipinas ang bandila ng Pilipinas, at we wish them luck. We wish the boys well. We know that they will fight with talagang… ang sigaw talaga nating mga Pilipino ‘PUSO!’,” Valte said in an interview aired over government-run dzRB.
“Oo, talagang ‘yon, capital letters ‘yon—P-U-S-O—so umaasa po tayo na talagang ‘yon na naman. ‘PUSO’ para sa Pilipinas ang dadalhin ng ating koponan. So good luck, Gilas,” she added.
The Philippine basketball team will face China at 8:30 p.m. in China.
Meanwhile, the Palace official congratulated the Philippine team for its victory against Japan last Friday night.
“Congratulations once again to Gilas Pilipinas for putting one over Japan at to end up in the finals,” Valte said.
Gilas Pilipinas won over Japan, 81-70, on Friday, and an anticipated victory against China on Saturday would earn the Philippine team a ticket for next year’s Olympic basketball tournament in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
With the win over Japan, the Philippines is back in the gold medal game of the FIBA Asia Championship. Gilas Pilipinas turned back a gritty Japan side, 81-70.