PHILIPPINE Sports Commission chairman Richard Bachmann, a son of a former basketball Olympian—a rarity these days—expressed pride in how Gilas Pilipinas made its way to the semifinals of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments 2024 at the Arena Riga.
The sports chief said he is thrilled of Gilas Pilipinas’ feat, just like how he felt for his dad Kurt when Team Philippines saw action in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.
At that time, it was Kurt Bachmann, who scored the winning shots in their game against Spain in the preliminaries and in the classification stage versus Puerto Rico and Mexico.
The most memorable was when Bachmann and Team Philippines beat Spain, 84-82, to become the first Asian squad to defeat a European rival in the Olympics.
The exploits of that team came to fore when Gilas Pilipinas won over Latvia, 89-80, early Thursday morning (Philippine time) in their first game in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 at the Arena Riga.
On the strength of that stunning victory, the Philippines advanced to the semifinals against Brazil even though it lost a close 94-96 to Georgia, due to a better quotient record.
Bachmann is upbeat that things will be better for Gilas when they clash with Brazil in their semis encounter this Saturday.
“Proud of my dad over what he accomplished, and hopefully we can have a basketball team in the Olympics,” said chairman Bachmann.