The Gilas Pilipinas national men’s basketball team was drawn in the same bracket with Korea, one of its toughest opponents in several international meets.
The two will be in Group A of the 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, joining New Zealand, Korea, and India.
FIBA, which is organizing the cagefest, made the draw on Tuesday evening at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball in Mies, Switzerland.
Gilas, along with the 79 participating countries will play in six windows for the next 15 months.
The windows of competition are in the four FIBA continental zones, like Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania, and Europe.
From November 2021 to February 2023, there will be a total of 420 games that will be contested in a home and away format.
Thirty-two teams will then qualify for the quadrennial event.
The rest of the groupings:
Group B – Australia, China, Japan, Chinese Taipei.
Group C – Jordan, Lebanon, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia.
Group D: Iran, Kazakhstan, Syria, Bahrain.