Saudis take first crack at Gilas 5

MANILA, Philippines - Saudi Arabia hopes to make an impact in its return stint in the FIBA Asia Championship after an eight-year hiatus, tapping Serbian coach Nenad Krdzic and brandishing a Euro brand of play for the upcoming event slated Aug. 1-11 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay and Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.

Krdzic was recruited by Saudi Arabia from the UAE league to take over from Lofti Chikhaoui in the Asian meet, which stakes three berths in the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain.

The 55-year-old Serb is not new to Asian basketball, being the coach of the Al Ittihad team that placed seventh in the 22nd FIBA Asia Champions Cup at the Philsports Arena in Pasig in 2011. Before his appointment as coach of the Saudi national team, he’s the bench chieftain of the Al Nasr squad in the UAE league.

Saudi will debut against Gilas Pilipinas on Aug. 1 starting at 8:30 p.m., headlining the opening eight-game bill in the regional world qualifier.

A slam-bang game set on opening day is China versus South Korea at 5:45 p.m.

The other MOA Arena matches during the inaugurals pit Iran versus Malaysia at 11 a.m., Jordan against Chinese Taipei at 1:15 p.m., Japan opposite Qatar at 3:30 p.m., and Lebanon versus Hong Kong at 10:30 p.m.

Kazakhstan and Thailand face off at 6 p.m. then India and Bahrain square off at 8:30 p.m. over at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The host team plays all its game at 8:30 p.m. at MOA. Gilas Pilipinas takes on Jordan on Aug. 2 then Chinese Taipei at the close of the first round of the preliminaries on Aug. 3.

The Nationals are tipped to easily make the second round where they play the top three from Group B composed of Lebanon, Qatar, Japan and Hong Kong.

The top four from the A-B bracket and the top four from the C-D side meet in crossover quarterfinals matchups to start the knockout stage.

As host, Gilas Pilipinas enjoyed privileges of picking its grouping and first game in the tourney.

Gilas coach Chot Reyes obviously chose Saudi Arabia for a warm-up before tackling the tougher Jordan and Chinese Taipei foes.

Saudi Arabia is the lowest-ranked team in Group A, competing in its first FIBA Asia Championship since the 2005 edition of the biennial meet where it placed eighth. The Gulf team has played in a total of only seven Asian jousts with a best finish of third place in Japan in 1999.

It was seventh in its initial FIBA Asia stint in 1989, ninth in 1991, sixth in 1993 and 1995 and finally made the semis, placing fourth in 1997.

Meanwhile, Jordan, second placer in the last Asian joust, has chosen Jimmy Baxter to replace Rasheim Wright as its naturalized player.

Fibaasia.net reported that the American guard is arriving in Amman Monday to sign his naturalization papers.

Jordan coach Vangelis Aleksandris, a Greek national, spotted Baxter from the Greek league.

Over in Jiangyin, China, Yi Jianlian powered China to a 75-67 win over the visiting Ukraine squad. It’s the first of two games between the two teams both preparing for their continental tourneys.