Filipinos beat Indians to clinch gold

The basketball-crazy Philippines has thrashed India to capture the gold medal in the first FIBA-Asia 3x3 U18 Championship for Boys and Girls held in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday.

Composed of precocious teenagers from some of the country’s’ elite schools, the Philippine team eked out a thrilling 21-19 victory over surprise finalists Indians at the inaugural three-on-three basketball tourney participated in by 19 countries.

“Honestly, I don’t have words to describe my feelings,” Prince Rivero, a student at La Salle-Greenhills, was quoted as saying in a report written by S Mageshwaran and posted on fibaasia.net.

The Philippines’ girls’ team was not as fortunate as the boys’, however, as it bowed to Thailand, 10-14, in the quarterfinals to finish out of the medal round.

Coached by Gerard Francisco, formerly a cager with the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), the girls’ team was composed of Nicole Maria Imelda Cancio, Afril Bernardino, Alyanna Sabrina Ong and Jack Danielle Animam.

Besides Rivero, the Philippines’ boys’ team was composed of Thirdy Ravena and Kobe Paras, both of Ateneo de Manila High School, and Arvin Tolentino, of San Beda High School.

“We are overwhelmed,” Ravena said. “We didn’t really think we could go all the way. We had God on our side.”

Tolentino said, “We worked really hard for this. I think God helped us because we helped ourselves.”

Coached by La Salle-Greenhills head coach John Flores, the Filipino boys sent the Japanese cagers packing in the quarterfinals, 21-18, before ripping the powerhouse China, 22-18, in the semifinals.

Heavily favoured to rule the tournament, the Chinese players had an average height of six-foot-six, with their tallest standing 6-foot-8.

“Who says we can’t beat China!!!!” Flores has posted on his Facebook account. “Yeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhh boooooy!!!!!”

In the preliminaries, Philippines topped Group B with a 3-1 record, losing to Qatar, 14-17. But the Filipinos defeated Chinese Taipei, 20-18, Syria (17-13) and Indonesia (20-13).

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