IN beating the Philippines, 78-67, in the finals of the 28th FIBA Asia Men’s Basketball Championship in Changsha, Hunan province in the People’s Republic of China, the perennial continental power became the ninth country to punch an automatic ticket to the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 5-21 next year.
The previous eight are host Brazil, reigning FIBA Basketball World Cup champion United States, Oceania winner Australia, AfroBasket winner Nigeria, Americas champion Venezuela and runner-up Argentina and EuroBasket winner Spain and second-placer Lithuania.
Back-to-back FIBA Asia silver medalist Philippines, third-place Islamic Republic of Iran (the 2013 FIBA Asia titlist) and fourth-place Japan will be invited to the special final Olympic qualifying tournaments slated for July 5-11 next year in three still-to-be-determined sites.
The Iranians, who were dethroned by China, 70-57, in the semifinals, clinched the bronze medal with a 68-63 decision over Japan, which also was defeated by the Philippines, 81-70, for the second time in the tournament during the Final Four.
China finished the biennial 16-team competitions with a lily-white 9-0 win-loss record. The Philippines dropped its opening assignment against Palestine (which failed to land in the Elite Eight quarterfinals with three setbacks in the second round), 75-73, and against China in the finals to register a 7-2 record.
Third-place Iran also wound up with a 7-2 mark, including an 87-73 shellacking from the Filipinos. Fourth-ranked Japan lost to Iran (including an 86-48 rout in the second round) and the Philippines (including a 73-66 reversal during the second round) twice each for a 5-4 ledger.
The final ranking of the other team is as follows:
5-Lebanon, 6-South Korea (the 2013 FIBA Asia bronze medalist), 7-Qatar, 8-India, 9-Jordan (mentored by former PH national team coach Rajko Toroman), 10-Palestine, 11-Kazakhstan, 12-Hong Kong, 13-Chinese Taipei (the 2013 FIBA Asia fourth-placer), 14-Kuwait, 15-Singapore and 16-Malaysia (the only winless team at 0-5 under Filipino coach Paul Advincula).
For the second time in three editions, former NBA player Yi Jianlian was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player as the 27-year-old Chinese posted averages of 16.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.2 blocked shots in nine outings, including an 11-point, 15-rebound, 2-block performance against the Philippines in the finals.
In 2011, the 7-foot Yi also earned tournament MVP honors after powering China to a 70-69 victory over Jordan (which was then coached by current PH bench boss Tab Baldwin) in the gold-medal duel held in Wuhan, China.
Joining Yi on the 2015 FIBA Asia All-Tournament Team were our own Jayson Castro William (who got the nod at point guard for the second time in a row), guard Guo Ailun and 19-year-old center Zhou Qi of China and Iran team skipper Samad Nikkhah Bahrami (who netted 35 points in the third-place contest against Japan).
For Team Pilipinas, naturalized frontliner and NBA alum Andray Blatche was tops in scoring (17.8 ppg), rebounding (9.2 rpg) and shot blocks (1.1 bpg). Castro William (16.7 ppg) and Terrence Romeo (12.2 ppg) were the only other Filipino with twin-digit averages.
Energetic Calvin Abueva contributed 8.9 ppg and 6.2 rpg and Ranidel De Ocampo normed 8.2 ppg and 5.4 rpg. Team captain Dondon Hontiveros hit at a 6.8-point clip while Gabe Norwood normed 3.4 scores, 3.7 boards and a team-best 1.6 steals an outing (edging Blatche, who had 1.4 spg, for leadership).
Joining the Philippines, Iran and Japan in the special final Olympic qualifying tournaments in three still-to-be-determined sites are Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, France, Serbia, Greece, Italy, the Czech Republic, Angola, Tunisia, Senegal and New Zealand.
Question is if the Philippines will be accepting the invitation to take part in the special qualifying tournament or simply give up the opportunity.
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