Chot: Jump in world rankings a challenge to Gilas to do better

MANILA, Philippines – While it is something to be proud of, Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes see the 11-place jump of the country in the latest world rankings as a challenge to do better in the next coming major tournaments.

On Friday, the FIBA World released its latest rankings still topped by USA, Spain and Argentina  in that order with the Philippines now on the 34^th spot, a huge jump from its previous 45^th spot prior to this year’s FIBA Asia Championship.

As it stands, the Philippines is now the 6^th highest ranked nation in Asia behind China (12^th), FIBA Asia champion Iran (20^th), Lebanon (29^th), Jordan (30^th) and South Korea (31^st).

The latest FIBA world rankings are based on the results of the three major basketball competitions –

Olympics, FIBA World Cup and the FIBA zone championship, in the Philippines’ case the FIBA Asia championship.

The country’s ranking is expected to go higher after the FIBA World Cup next year in Spain.