PHILIPPINES CLIMBS 8 PLACES TO BREAK INTO TOP 50 IN WORLD BASKETBALL
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 28 Sep 2011
The Philippines, behind the efforts of the Smart Gilas national team has climbed eight places in the FIBA World Rankings and in so doing has broken into the top 50.
The latest FIBA rankings places the Philippines at No. 45 just behind 2012 London Olympic Games hosts Great Britain and Portugal.
The Philippines heartbreaking loss to South Korea in the bronze medal battle at the recent FIBA Asia Men?s Championship prevented the country from moving further ahead in the world standings although the improvement in finishing fourth after several decades is regarded as remarkable.
The Philippines was congratulated by FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann for its fine showing since the establishment of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas under its president, the esteemed businessman-sportsman Manny Pangilinan.
In the 2011 version of the Men?s Rankings the top ten team standings remain unchanged since last year?s World Championships in Turkey.
World champions United States take top honors followed by reigning two-time Eurobasket winners Spain and FIBA Americas gold medalists Argentina in third spot.
While there were no changes in the top ten, France and Brazil who were on the fringes have moved to near the top of the table with France climbing two places to No. 12 after finishing second in the Eurobasket 2011 Championships while Brazil move up three spots to No. 13 after finishing runners-up to Argentina in Mar del Plata?s FIBA Americas championships.
The biggest improvement of any team in the top 25 was made by the Dominican Republic who moved from No. 30 to 25 after finishing third at the FIBA Americas Championship and securing their place in the Olympic qualifying tournament which is what the Philippines narrowly failed to accomplish as a result of its 70-68 loss to Korea in Wuhan.
Jordan which lost a one point heartbreaker to China in the FIBA Asia Men?s finals after beating the Philippines in the semi finals although they lost to Smart Gilas in the preliminary round, moved inside the top 30 to clinch the No. 28 ranking following its memorable run in Wuhan, China.
Tunisia which clinched a first ever trip to the Olympics by winning the Afrobasket Championships improved five places from 37 to 32 while Macedonia, the biggest revelation of Eurobasket 2011 where they finished fourth jumped 14 places from 57 to 33 while London Olympic hosts Great Britain climbed from 56 to 43 after wins ovet Portugal and Poland at Eurobasket 2011.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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