Gilas women set foot in China

MANILA, Philippines — The Gilas Pilipinas U18 squad yesterday arrived in Shenzhen, China with hopes of fulfilling its mission to gain a Division A promotion in the FIBA U18 Women’s Asia Cup Division B tournament.

Led by program director Pat Aquino and head coach Julie Amos, the young Filipina ballers vowed their readiness to stand their ground against the continent’s next best teams in the tourney firing off tomorrow until June 30 at the Futian Sports Park.

The Gilas women U16 team last year already achieved the feat by ruling Division B, setting the stage for the U18 team to follow suit as Aquino puts premium to the development of the national women’s team program from the ground up.

“Our U16 already did it so this will be another achievement if we also level to the Division A in the U18,” said Aquino.

If Gilas achieves the feat, it could share the same court soon with the elite squads in Division A led by Australia, Japan, China, South Korea, New Zealand and Chinese Taipei as well as former Division B winners Indonesia and Malaysia.

But first things first for the Filipinas, who will have to rule against seven other teams in Division B to advance.

Gilas is bracketed with Syria, Lebanon and Maldives in Group B as Iran, Samoa, Hong Kong and Kyrgyzstan slug it out in Group A.

The Philippines has to finish in the top two to gain automatic semifinal seats. A third-place finish would push the team to a harder route in the qualification to semis.

Gilas showed a glimpse of its capability by wiping out the SEABA qualifiers in Thailand to advance in the Asia Cup Division B with an average winning margin of 37.6 points.