Gilas Pilipinas was officially awarded their first win in the 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, taking a win due to forfeit over Korea, 20-0, Thursday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
At around 6:00 PM, table officials started the 15-minute timer as Gilas warmed up on the court.
By the end of the clock, the buzzer sounded with the barker officially declaring the contest in favor of Gilas.
On the court for Gilas was their supposed lineup for the game, namely Angelo Kouame, Robert Bolick, Kib Montalbo, Troy Rosario, JP Erram, Thirdy Ravena, Dwight Ramos, Juan Gomez de Liano, Lebron Lopez, William Navarro, Jaydee Tungcab, and Tzaddy Rangel.
This also marks the first appearance of Montalbo and Rangel in the national team.
Gilas is now officially 1-0 in Group A of the Qualifiers with a full two classification points. Korea, meanwhile, drops to 0-1 with no classification points.
This will continue tomorrow for Korea’s scheduled game against India at 3:00 PM, on Sunday against New Zealand at 4:00 PM, and against Gilas again on Monday at 6:00 PM.
Hours before their flight on February 22, the Korea Basketball Association decided to not let their team leave the country after one player from their final 12 yielded a positive RT-PCR test. The rest of the team were close contacts.
