Gilas women’s 3×3 chasing outright Olympic berth
Where the Gilas Pilipinas women’s 3×3 team stands right now is not lost on Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas executive director Erika Dy.
“If the Olympics were to start tomorrow, we are qualified already,” the hardworking basketball executive said on Tuesday during the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the media room of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) inside Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
It took a lot of hard work to reach that point. But the more difficult task still lies ahead.
“We have to maintain that,” Dy said, before adding: “But it’s not going to be an easy road, obviously.”
The task of maintaining that qualifying position lies on the shoulders of the core of the team that won a historic silver medal in the Fiba Asia Cup and clinched a berth to the 3×3 World Cup.
Doable goal
Afril Bernardino, Kacey Dela Rosa, Mikka Cacho, Cheska Apag, and Reynalyn Ferrer were part of that group, along with coach Anton Altamirano and program director Ryan Gregorio. They are faced with a full calendar heading into the World Cup, and will also try to maintain their position to qualify for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“The big dream that we have is to make the 2028 Olympics,” Dy said in the Forum presented by San Miguel Corporation, PSC, Philippine Olympic Committee, MILO, and the country’s 24/7 sports app ArenaPlus. “And the campaign for that started this year. Every win in every Fiba tournament will contribute to the Olympic ranking points which is what will qualify us to the Olympics.”
The historic silver puts the country at No. 2 in the halfcourt game in Asia and only the top two teams get outright berths to the 2028 Games.
Bernardino, the team’s most senior player, believes the goal is doable.
“The ball is round,” said the three-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist and three-time UAAP MVP from National University.
