HARDCORE basketball fans will be burning the midnight oil as Gilas Pilipinas starts its campaign in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup in the wee hours of Wednesday (Philippine time), August 6.

Gunning for not just a rousing start but also some sort of revenge, Gilas will take on Chinese Taipei at 2 a.m. at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

In their last meeting in the qualifiers, Chinese Taipei took down Gilas, 91-84, ending the Filipinos’ 12-year win streak against the Taiwanese.

Gilas is way above Chinese Taipei in the world rankings with the Nationals occupying the 34th spot and the Taiwanese sitting on the 73rd.

Despite the disparity in rankings, Gilas coach Tim Cone isn’t taking the Taiwanese lightly.

“Taiwan beat us last time we played them, and they added two young Division One players and the Hinton brothers. Those guys are making an impact on that team. They definitely have the personnel. It wasn’t a fluke that they beat us,” Cone said.

Gilas looked sharp heading into the competition. It went 2-0 in its two tuneup games, beating Macau first, 103-98, and Jordan next, 75-61.

The Nationals, who are bracketed in Group D along with Chinese Taipei, New Zealand, and Iraq, will be led by Justin Brownlee, June Mar Fajardo, Dwight Ramos, Scottie Thompson, and Calvin Oftana.

Ready to lend support are AJ Edu, Kevin Quiambao, Carl Tamayo, CJ Perez, Chris Newsome, Japeth Aguilar, and Jamie Malonzo.(CCM)

• Tags
• #2025 FIBA Asia Cup
• #Chinese Taipei
• #Gilas Pilipinas
• #Chinese Taipei
• #Jeddah Saudi Arabia
• #Tim Cone
• #Division One
• #Hinton Brothers