The Philippine national basketball team, Gilas Pilipinas started its prepartions for the 2014 FIBA World Cup as Gilas coach Chot Reyes will embark on a trip to the current FIBA Africa tournament in the Ivory Coast City of Abidjan.
Photo Credit: InterAKV
Coach Chot Reyes already received his travel documents on Thursday, he was quoted as saying that, “The road to Spain starts with scouting the opponents,” Reyes stated. He travel to Africa alone as his (–foul word(s) removed–)istant coaches are busy with other commitments.
The African trip of Chot Reyes will the Philippines first look at the top teams from the said continent, which features traditional regional powerhouses Nigeria, Tunisia and Angola.
The Filipino veteran coach and international campaigner Chot Reyes piloted the Philippines return to the world stage with the team’s successful silver medal finish in the FIBA Asia Championship earlier held in the Philippines, joining regional powerhouse and current champion, Iran and third-place finisher South Korea.
The top three finisher in FIBA Asia will join four other teams who have already qualified for the event, Olympic champion United States, host Spain and FIBA Oceania representatives Australia and New Zealand.
In FIBA Africas three teams will moved on to represent the region in FIBA World Cup. Four spots are up for grabs in FIBA Americas Championship, while in FIBA Eurobaskete will have six more spot alloted aside from host team Spain. The FIBA World Cup cast will be completed with four wild-cards invited by FIBA for a total of 24 participating teams.
