Gilas Pilipinas pursues its Olympic dreams as it will compete against 24 other teams at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT), where four teams will get a chance to play at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Smart is bringing Filipinos closer to the action as it will livestream the journey of Gilas Pilipinas toward fulfilling their Olympic dreams via the Smart LiveStream app for free.

Gilas’ first two games will be on July 3 and 4, where they will go against Latvia and Georgia respectively. Gilas Pilipinas is headed by coach Tim Come and consists of a 12-man roster that includes Justin Brownlee, Junemar Fajardo, Chris Newsome, Dwight Ramos, CJ Perez, Calvin Oftana, Kevin Quiambao, Carl Tamayo, Japeth Aguilar, Mason Amos, and Kai Sotto.

Gilas Pilipinas (world rank No. 37) is part of Group A alongside Latvia (No. 6) and Georgia (No. 23) set to play in Riga, Latvia to finalize the FIBA OQT lineup. The top two teams from Group A (Latvia, Georgia, Philippines) will battle the top two teams from Group B (Brazil, Montenegro, and Cameroon) in a crossover semis format. This means that for Gilas to stand a chance, they only need to beat either Latvia or Georgia in the initial group phase to secure continuation in the crossover semis games. 

A win again in the final four semis will land Gilas in a winner-take-all finale for the lone Paris 2024 ticket allocated for the Latvia OQT leg.  Aside from the Latvia tournament, other FIBA OQT legs will take place from July 2 to 7 in Greece, Spain, and Puerto Rico. The top four emerging teams from each leg will qualify for the remaining Olympic slots.

If Gilas Pilipinas qualifies for the 2024 Paris Olympics, they will join Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Serbia, South Sudan, USA, and host country France, along with the winning teams from FIBA OQT legs in Greece, Spain, and Puerto Rico for a total of 12 teams.

Catch Gilas Pilipinas’ all-important shot at Paris 2024 by downloading the Smart LiveStream App or watch on your web browser