BALDWIN: OQT BERTH A GIFT
TAB BALDWIN called the Philippines getting a lucky ticket to Serbia for the olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) against mighty Serbia in July a gift.
And the Kiwi-american men’s national team program director of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas threw pessimism out the window, saying Gilas Pilipinas got that chance to make it to the Tokyo olympics.
“you always have a chance when you put your uniform on. If you don’t believe you have a chance, you don’t put your uniform on—it’s just that simple,” Baldwin told Businessmirror on Sunday.
New Zealand withdrew from the June 29 to July 1 OQT in Belgrade, giving the Philippines passage to a chance at making Tokyo. The country, despite ranked No. 32 in the world, is the best-placed Asian nation to make the OQT grade.
“This is really a gift. once again, this crazy world that we live in now, which seems to be dominated by Covid-19 impact events, has presented the Philippines with a gift,” Baldwin added.
But with the gift comes a tremendously heavy package.
The Philippines will also face world No. 19 Dominican Republic, which is expected to be led by the Minnesota Timberwolves’ center Karlanthony Towns and Boston Celtics’ Al Horford in its group in Belgrade—although Serbia alone is already a tough mountain to trek.
Serbia, ranked No. 5 in the world, has the National Basketball Association’s Mr. Tripledouble 6-foot-11 Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and 7-foot-3 Boban Marjanovic.
Jokic and his teammates made mincemeat of the yeng Guiao-coached national team, 67126, in the 2019 Fiba World Cup in China.
Italy, Senegal and Puerto Rico make up the other group in the Belgrade OQT where only one team will make it to Tokyo.