Philippine Basketball Rises Again and Shocked the World

Basketball is considered as the most popular and well-loved sport in the Philippines since it was first introduced during the American colonial period. Millions of Filipinos love basketball more than any other sport in the world. Wherever you go, there is always a basketball game in every corner of the country, where ordinary Filipinos, young and old alike, enjoy playing the sport from indoor and outdoor courts to the low-lying streets of the Metro. Many of them would also prefer watch great basketball action from the best ballers here and abroad. If you are one of those, then you must be either a great fan of the NBA or focusing on the present and future of Philippine basketball through the UAAP, NCAA, and PBA. Now, Philippine basketball has taken further into the next level as it surprisingly made its glorious return to the world basketball stage after four decades of waiting.


The Philippine national men's basketball team known as Gilas Pilipinas has competed against some of the best basketball players in the world at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup held in Spain. Although the team did not move on to the next level of the said competition, the Philippines has earned not only the respect of the global basketball community, but also its first victory in a world level basketball match for the first time since the 1978 FIBA World Cup held in Manila where the country did not make a single win in all of its matches. What makes Gilas more special than any other country in the world is that they play with heart despite its disadvantages over those who are larger and better than them. What you are about to see are some of the milestones that Filipino basketball fans are proud of.

As of now, the Philippines has moved to number 31 in the FIBA world rankings, making it the fifth highest-ranked Asian country in the said standings. This achievement and the milestones above will be a great kickoff for the opening of the 40th season of Asia's oldest professional basketball league, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), on October. This just goes to show that Gilas Pilipinas is the heart of Philippine basketball and the Filipino basketball fans are the soul of it. It is only a matter of time before our country becomes an unstoppable force once it returns to the world basketball stage. This is what Philippine basketball is all about, and it is all thanks to Gilas and the fans.