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| Gilas' biggest test has arrived. |
By Ivan Saldajeno
THE time has come.
The last three spots in the Summer Olympics basketball competition are on the line in three separate FIBA OQT's this week.
The Philippines was given the right to host one of the three tournaments. Thus, Filipino fans will get to see world-class hoop action at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
For the newbies in the game, here are what you need to know.
Once upon a time...
Prior to the OQT, 12 teams, the host nation, the FIBA World Cup champions, and ten others based on the continents they are in, get to play in the Olympic basketball competition. FIBA Asia was only given one slot for the said tourney, which is basically given to the FIBA Asia champs. But an amendment to the continental distribution paved the way to the formation of the OQT as the wildcard tournament to determine the other three participants to the "Final 12", giving teams from "one-bid" continents a chance to join their continental champs to the "biggest sports show on Earth".
Champions only
Only the winners in the three OQT's (the other tournaments are in Turin and Belgrade) will join nine other teams in Rio De Janeiro, so for our very own Gilas Pilipinas to end a six-year wait (or 44 depending on what you're more believing in; more on that later) for Olympic basketball, they need to make the top two in the group stages and sweep the playoff rounds and so are the other 17 teams in the hunt (the 18 squads are divided into six groups of three in the preliminaries, in which a pair of groups will hold their matches in either Pasay, Turin, or Belgrade).
Ending the drought
The last time the Philippines joined the men's seniors Olympic basketball tourney was in 1972, but overall, the most recent Olympic basketball appearance of the Filipinos was in the inaugural Youth Olympic 3x3 tournament in 2010, in which current Gilas member Ray-Ray Parks was a part of it along with Gilas Cadet Mike Tolomia.
But whether it's six or 44 years, the Filipinos may have waited long enough for an Olympic appearance. With the raucous crowd in their favor, Gilas has a "fighting chance" as what Coach Tab Baldwin said.
Some NBA glimpse
Although FIBA is the one in charge of the OQT, we can't deny the fact that some of the fans want to see NBA stars in action.
France, which is part of the Gilas group, has Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, and Nic Batum, while Canada, who leads the other Pasay OQT group, has recently crowned NBA champion Tristan Thompson.
Turkey, which is also part of the Canada group, has Omer Asik, who in one friendly got a taste of Marc Pingris' "no-backing-down" attitude.
You asked for it? You got it!
Looking for tickets?
If you have not bought tickets for the OQT, you may need to hope that are still more to be sold at the MOA Arena as the SBP reported that the tickets are sold out for both Gilas game days.
But you can still show your support for Gilas through live TV coverage on TV5 or the streaming at their Youtube channel.
Get ready to make some noise
If you have tickets, time to reserve your voice for the total noise barrage that you may need to join to support Gilas and prove to the world what kind of hoop junkies the Filipinos are.
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
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