PBA honors Gilas Pilipinas’ silver medal feat
The PBA on Wednesday night recognized Gilas Pilipinas’ silver-medal feat in the 2015 Fiba Asia Championship. PBA IMAGES
Gilas Pilipinas, which won the silver medal in the 2015 Fiba Asia Championship in China early in the month, was honored by the PBA during its opening ceremonies Wednesday night at Mall of Asia Arena.
The Philippine team fell short of its ultimate goal in securing a place in the Rio Olympics but the country and its millions of avid basketball fans had every reason to celebrate Gilas’ feat.
The 12 players namely Andray Blatche, Jayson Castro, JC Intal, Asi Taulava, Terrence Romeo, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser, Calvin Abueva, Sonny Thoss, Dondon Hontiveros, Ranidel de Ocampo, Marc Pingris and Gabe Norwood and head coach Tab Baldwin were each called on center court to be recognized and applauded by the crowd.
Asi Taulava takes a selfie with the rest of Gilas along with PBA commissioner Chito Narvasa, league president and CEO Chito Salud and chairman Robert Non. PBA IMAGES
Gary David, who was a reserve on the team, was also invited by his teammates Asi Taulava and Ranidel de Ocampo to be part of the photo-op with league president and CEO Chito Salud, chairman Robert Non and commissioner Chito Narvasa.
The Filipinos lost to China in the gold medal match but the country will have another opportunity to play in the Summer Games slated next year via a much tougher wildcard tournament also scheduled in 2016.
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
