Gilas Pilipinas is fighting for their Olympic dream in the crucial FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT). With 24 teams competing for the last four spots in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Gilas Pilipinas needs to overcome the odds.
To bring Filipinos closer to the action, Smart Communications, Inc. will stream Gilas Pilipinas’ OQT games live and for free via the Smart LiveStream App. The app is available for download on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, and the livestream will be accessible to subscribers of all networks.
Fans can catch the the country’s national basketball team facing Latvia and Georgia on July 3 and 4, respectively.
Head coach Tim Cone, whose Gilas Pilipinas program sparked renewed success for the country’s international basketball campaign, will spearhead the 12-man roster that includes naturalized Filipino and Asian Games hero Justin Brownlee, seven-time PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo, and recent PBA All-Filipino Conference Finals MVP Chris Newsome.
Dwight Ramos, CJ Perez, Calvin Oftana, Kevin Quiambao, Carl Tamayo, Japeth Aguilar, Mason Amos, and Kai Sotto also join the Tim Cone-led squad. Meanwhile, Cone will miss the services of Jamie Malonzo, AJ Edu, and Scottie Thompson due to injuries.
Gilas Pilipinas (world rank No. 37) is part of Group A alongside Latvia (No. 6) and Georgia (No. 23) set to play in Riga, Latvia to finalize the FIBA OQT lineup.
The top two teams from Group A (Latvia, Georgia, Philippines) will battle the top two teams from Group B (Brazil, Montenegro, and Cameroon) in a crossover semis format. This means that for Gilas to stand a chance, they only need to beat either Latvia or Georgia in the initial group phase to secure continuation in the crossover semis games.
A victory in the crossover semifinals sends Gilas to a winner-take-all match for the sole Paris 2024 ticket allocated for the Latvia OQT leg. Aside from the Latvia tournament, other FIBA OQT legs will take place from July 2 to 7 in Greece, Spain, and Puerto Rico. The top four emerging teams from each leg will qualify for the remaining Olympic slots.
Should Gilas qualify, they will join Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Serbia, South Sudan, USA, host country France, and the winners from the FIBA OQT legs for a total of 12 teams.
“Through the Smart LiveStream App, we encourage every Filipino basketball fan to support Gilas Pilipinas in their quest to join other qualifiers bound for Paris 2024. The FIBA OQT games will be like a primer to Smart LiveStream’s most comprehensive broadcast of the entire Paris 2024 happening late July to August,” said Alex O. Caeg, Head of Consumer Wireless Business at Smart.
“Expect Gilas Pilipinas to give it their all against host country Latvia and against Georgia. Let’s continue to support and follow the journey of our men’s national basketball team powered by Smart’s superior mobile network,” added Jude Turcuato, Head of Sports at PLDT-Smart.
Catch Gilas Pilipinas’ all-important shot at Paris 2024 by downloading the Smart LiveStream App or by watching on your web browser.
