When Gilas Pilipinas plunges into action in the Fiba Asia Cup beginning on Wednesday (Aug. 6, 2025, PH time), it faces the colossal challenge of winning the gold medal.
To begin with, there are 16 countries from Asia and Oceania in the continental event set Aug. 5-17 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Leading the pack are perennial heavyweights China (16-time champion), Iran (three-time champion) and the two Oceanic countries: Australia and New Zealand.
Australia is the defending champion after prevailing in the event’s last staging in 2022 in Jakarta, Indonesia — with New Zealand finishing third behind Lebanon, the surprise runner-up.
In an interesting twist, Australia has been bracketed with Lebanon in Group A that include equally fancied South Korea and Qatar.
In Group B are Guam, Iran, Japan and Syria; Group C, China, India, Jordan and Saudi Arabia; and Group D, Chinese-Taipei (Taiwan), Iraq, New Zealand and Gilas Pilipinas.
The No. 1 finisher in the single-round robin from each of the four groups automatically advances to the quarterfinals, with the second and third placers left to scramble for four slots to complete the eight-team cast in the next round.
Only the fourth placers in each of the four groups get to be eliminated.
Gilas Pilipinas is a dark horse simply because it won the 2023 Asian Games after beating Jordan by 10 points for the gold in Guangzhou, China.
But Gilas could still be dealing with the stigma of its ninth-place finish in 2022 — its worst since 2007.
The mending begins Wednesday when Gilas squares off with Taiwan at 2 a.m. (PH time). Taiwan beat Gilas in 2013 before Gilas prevailed in 2015.
But that 2013 loss coaxed Gilas to play harder, eventually finishing second to Iran to mark the country’s return to the 2014 Fiba World Cup in Spain after a 27-year absence.
The Philippines, a three-time Asia Cup winner in Manila (1960), Taipei (1963) and Seoul (1967), takes on New Zealand at 11 p.m. on Aug. 7 and Iraq at 4 p.m. on Aug. 9.
History is on our side as Gilas defeated Iraq by 17 points in 2017.
Only New Zealand remains a thorn as Gilas lost twice to the Kiwis in the 2016 and 2022 Asia Cup editions.
Coach Tim Cone’s Gilas players are Justin Brownlee, June Mar Fajardo, Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar, Calvin Oftana, Chris Newsome, CJ Perez, Carl Tamayo, AJ Edu, Kevin Quiambao and Jamie Malonzo.
Good luck, fellas.