Pacquiao congratulates Gilas Pilipinas
By Rich Mazon
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 05 Sep 2014
New York - From one source of "Pinoy Pride" to another, boxing ring icon Manny Pacquiao congratulated the Philippine Basketball team, Gilas Pilipinas, that represented the country in the ongoing FIBA World Cup in Spain.
"Congratulations sa kanilang lahat, sa Gilas Pilipinas. Proud kaming lahat na mga Pilipino sa karangalan na dinala ninyo sa bansa," Pacquiao told this Philboxing.com / Abante correspondent.
(Congratulations to all of them, to Gilas Pilipinas. We Filipinos are all proud of the honor that you brought to the country.)
Pacquiao who is in New York in the final leg of his promotional tour to promote his November 22nd fight with challenger Chris Algieri in Macao, China commended the team who ended the country's 40 year drought of winless participation in the prestigious tournament by beating Senegal with a close 81-79 overtime victory Thursday in Sevilla, Spain.
"Makapasok lang sa World Cup, makalaro lang sa World Cup ay karangalan na natin. Congratulations sa kanila," Pacquiao stated.
(To be able to qualify, to just be able to play at the World Cup is an honor already for us all. Congratulations to all of them.)
Gilas Philippines exemplified true grit in the hard court as they gave highly ranked Croatia (16), Greece (5), Argentina (3) and Puerto Rico (17) all they could handle in highly contested games in the first round of the tournament, losing to all four with only an average of 5.75 points. The team is ranked 23rd of the 24th teams at the start of the tourney.
Pacquiao will be soon be sharing the hard court with most of the team's players in the upcoming 40th season of the Philippine Basketball Association or PBA, the country's premier professional basketball league.
The reigning WBO welterweight champ was drafted in the first round (11th) of this year's draft by expansion team, KIA Motors. He is not only expected to play for the team, he is also the team's playing coach when the season opens this October.
You can reach the author at rrmaze24@aol.com and is on Twitter @Freemazon910.
Photo: Superstar Manny Pacquiao (L) listens to Hall of Fame Top Rank promoter Bob Arum(R) during a press conference in New York on 'Day 11' of his worldwide tour with New York's undefeated (20-0) WBO Jr. Welterweight champion Chris Algieri. Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rich Mazon .
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