HANGZHOU – The Philippine men’s 3×3 team suffered its first loss in the 19th Asian Games and paid dearly for it.
Its 21-12 loss to Mongolia at the end of the preliminary phase suddenly relegated the Filipinos to the classification phase to have a shot of earning a place in the quarterfinals.
The Philippines, Mongolia and Chinese Taipei all finished with similar 3-1 records in Group A.
A 3×3 powerhouse, Mongolia earned outright quarterfinals berth, while both the Philippines and Chinese Taipei will battle it out with the nos. 2 and 3 teams of the three other groups to clinch one of four quarterfinal berths at stake in the classification.
Gilas faces Kazakhstan on Friday in the first of two must win games for the team in order to advance.
“Mahirap pero laban lang,” said deputy coach Patrick Fran. The Filipinos fell early against the Mongolians, 5-12 and never recovered from there.
The scores:
Mongolia (21) – Tsermaa 8, Myagmarsuren 7, Batzorig3, Lkhagva 3.
Philippines (12) – Lina 7, Sajonia 2, Pasaol 2, Sanchez 1.
