Tough World Cup grouping sets up rough Paris journey for Gilas

The Philippines will try to quench its never-ending thirst to return to the basketball competitions of the Summer Olympics when it cohosts this year’s International Basketball Federation (Fiba) World Cup, and its route will be littered with familiar stumbling blocks.

Gilas Pilipinas will face the Dominican Republic, Angola and then global power Italy in the classification round of the global showcase starting Aug. 25, looking to not only turn in a better performance after a ghastly outing in China the last time but also hoping to become the best Asian finisher to get to Paris next year.

“Our objective here is to get to the Olympics in 2024. That is the goal. That is the dream,”…

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