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| Source: InterAksoyn.com |
Gilas Pilipinas opens bid for Asian Games gold against improving India The Philippine national men’s basketball team will attempt to get its bid for the gold medal underway when it takes on an ever-improving India squad in the preliminary round of the 2014 Asian Games basketball tournament on Tuesday in Incheon, Korea. India will be the first team the Gilas Pilipinas national team will be facing starting 1:00 p.m. live on TV5. The Philippines will come into the tournament with their confidence soaring after a terrific campaign in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain, where they gave several world powers some huge scares before settling for a lone win in five games. They will enter the tournament one of the favorites to win it all, especially if they can carry over some of their World Cup momentum into the Asiad tilt. “You can see how we played during the World Cup. Parang nag-level up yung mga teammates ko,” Aguilar told InterAksyon.com before leaving for Korea. “I think if we play the same level as we did in Spain, parang feeling ko kaya naming talunin every team na makakalaban namin.” But India, a country traditionally known for its competitiveness in sports like cricket and not basketball, has proven that it’s not a good idea to count them out of late. The Indians have shown vast improvement since the 2013 FIBA Asia Championships in Manila as they showcased in the recent FIBA Asia Cup where they pulled off several surprises, including a shocking victory over host China, a 36-point rout of Indonesia and a tight quarterfinal contest with the Filipinos where they held Gilas scoreless for the last five minutes of the game. They will again rely on twin towers Amritpal Singh and Amjyot Singh, who have turned in stellar performances for India since the FIBA Asia Cup. Amritpal Singh averaged 17 points and eight boards in the team’s first two games in the Asian Games’ qualifying round while Amjyot Singh normed 22 points over the last two. India topped Group B of the qualifying round with a 2-1 record, advancing to Group E of the preliminaries alongside Gilas and FIBA Asia champions Iran. But the Filipinos, who put their no-quit attitude on full display on the world stage, will be looking to hurdle India in their quest for much bigger things in this tournament. “Ang ganda kasi sa nakita natin noong World Cup yung hanggang sa huli palaban pa rin tayo eh,” said Gilas guard Paul Lee. “Sana madala natin yan sa Korea.”
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