Gilas grouped with SoKor anew for WCQ

Gilas and South Korea are grouped together again. FIBA/Paul Ryan Tan (file photo)

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--Gilas Pilipinas has been drawn again alongside South Korea once again following the Asia-Pacific portion of the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers group draw on Tuesday at the FIBA head office in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Just like in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers, Gilas and South Korea will be in one group again, this time being joined by New Zealand and India in Group A.

Group B, however, offers something interesting for the basketball fans as a "group of death" has been formed there with Australia, China, Japan, and Chinese Taipei in it.

Despite being part of the East Zone geographically, Indonesia has been placed into the West Zone, joining Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia in Group C.

The other west group, Group D, consists of Iran, Kazakhstan, Syria, and Bahrain.

For the first round of the qualifiers, which will begin with an 11-day window from Nov. 20-30, teams will play a double round-robin tournament within their groups.

The next windows have been scheduled from Feb. 21-March 1 and June 27-July 5 of 2022.

The top three teams per group will move on for the second round of the qualifiers scheduled for the windows of Aug. 22-30 and Nov. 7-15 of 2022 and Feb. 20-28, 2023.

The top two teams from each second-round group plus the best third placer will join Gilas and Japan as Asia's representatives to the FIBA World Cup that the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia will co-host.

However, if Indonesia fails to enter the FIBA Asia Cup quarterfinals next year, then the other third placer will qualify.

Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno