HANGZHOU — A gauntlet has been laid down for Gilas Pilipinas to run through, with its fate in the 19th Asian Games hinged on one crucial qualification game, that is, against Qatar on Monday, October 2.

At stake is a spot in the quarterfinals of the men’s basketball competition where powerhouse Iran awaits.

A victory in the round of 8 would then give Gilas a shot at a podium finish against host China.

Revenge will be in the air, if the Philippines and China do meet in the semifinals, with the hometown crowd expected to turn up in huge numbers to demand payback for Gilas’ 96-75 rout of the Chinese team — behind Jordan Clarkson’s 34-point blast — in the FIBA Basketball World Cup classification at the SM Mall of Asia Arena last September 4.

The do-or-die game with the Qataris is slated at 4. p.m. at the Zhegiang University Zijingang Gymnasium, where the Philippines turned back Thailand and Tyler Lamb, 87-72, last Thursday, September 28.

Qatar knocked out Indonesia from quarterfinal contention in the Group Phase, 74-67, on Saturday, September 30, hours before Gilas absorbed an 87-62 setback to Jordan and NBA journeyman Rondae Hollis-Jefferson at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center.

The Nationals had the Jordanians in the ropes for a brief moment late in the third quarter, 52-all, but let them slip away with a 13-0 run going to the fourth, letting loose as well an outright quarterfinal berth where Gilas would have sidestepped Iran.

But these are the cards dealt to the Philippine team now, and the deck it has to play with. Based on Qatar’s preliminary round game against Indonesia, Gilas will need to look out for at least three licensed Qatari shooters — Abdullah Mousa, Babakar Dieng, and Khaled Abdelbaset — who launched 19 of their team’s 25 three-point attempts.

The squad from the Gulf Region also has ferocious rebounders in Nedim Muslic, El Hadji Ndoye, and Faris Advic, with Qatar’s combined 54 rebounds crushing Indonesia’s 32 total under the boards.

With their height and build, the Qataris appear to be more comfortable working inside the perimeter, taking 43 of their 68 field goal tries from within the arc. Indonesia, in contrast, took 30 of its 57 shots from beyond the 3-point line, hitting 12. Qatar was 6 of 25 from afar.

Defensively, the Nationals may not have to worry as much in the containment of a Hollis-Jefferson (25 pts, 9 rebs), a Fadi Ibrahim (17 pts, 3 of 7 threes), or a Sami Bzai (12 pts, 3 of 6 3s), all of whom delivered firepower for Jordan.

But they have to coax out of self-imposed cells Calvin Oftana, who was 0 of 7 from the field and scoreless in 28:48 minutes, CJ Perez (2 of 9 in 19:57), Japeth Aguilar (4 of 10 in 28:03) and Ange Kouame (2 of 6 in 10:27).

Even Justin Brownlee, who played without relief save for less than two minutes, was anything but a hot hand, scoring 24 points on 8 of 22 shooting, including 2 of 10 from long distance.

He and Scottie Thompson were the only Gilas players in double figures as the Nationals shot just 24 of 72 (33 percent), clanging all but 4 of 24 3-point attempts.

Quarterfinalist Jordan, meanwhile, will be gunning for a semifinal berth on Tuesday, October 3, against the winner of Monday’s qualification game between Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong.

China, Japan, Iran, and Jordan have all booked slots in the quarterfinals. (ai/mnm)

HANGZHOU – Olympic silver medalist Nesthy Petecio failed to repeat against rival Lin Yu Ting of Chinese Taipei and made an early exit in the 19th Asian Games Friday at the Hangzhou gymnasium.

Lin used her height and reach advantage to keep at bay her Filipina adversary on the way to pulling off a 4-1 decision, and a place in the quarterfinals of the women’s 57-kg class.

Two years ago, Petecio, 31, took the measure out of the 5-foot-9 Chinese Taipei fighter by beating her, 3-2, in the Round of 16 of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where the native of Davao Del Sur won a silver medal.

This time, it wasn’t meant to be.

“Nag-unahan kami kung sino ang makakakuha ng saktong style. At naunahan niya talaga ako,” said Petecio, who was humble in defeat.

The loss denied Petecio her first shot at clinching a return ticket to the Olympics set in Paris next year as the quadrennial showcase serves as a qualifier to the Olympiad.

Now she has to go through and compete in the World Championship in the hopes of making it in the Paris Games and complete what had been an unfinished business for her.

“Hindi pa tayo tapos,” Petecio vowed.

Petecio’s exit also ended the women’s team campaign in the Asiad, leaving the men’s team – now down to just three fighters – to carry the fight in a bid to win Philippine boxing’s first gold medal since the 2010 edition of the quadrennial meet in Guangzhou, China.

Other than Petecio, those who failed to advance include her fellow Olympian Irish Magno, Aira Villegas, Aaron Jude Bado, Mark Ashley Fajardo, and Marjon Pianar.

(ai/mnm)

HANGZHOU – The Sibol team of Robert de Guzman picked up a win and a loss in the Dream Three Kingdoms 2 event as the Philippines put up a semblance of a fight in the 19th Asian Games esports competitions at the Hangzhou Esports center on Wednesday.

De Guzman and his teammates first turned back the Sardor Azimov-led Uzbekistan, 1-0, before bowing, 0-1, to the Meirlan Yanmakhanov-powered Kazakhstan, to place second in Group B.

The top two squads in each group will reach the quarterfinals, which now has Kazakhstan, China and Thailand as the first qualifiers.

As the second-placed team in the group, the Philippines, which is backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee, arranged a quarterfinal showdown with Hong Kong on Thursday at 2 p.m. in the esports competition making its debut in the games.

In Group A, Laos took the lead after getting past Hong Kong and Tajikistan in the morning matches.

Group C saw Vietnam stopping Kyrgyzstan, 1-0, but the latter bounced back with a triumph over Nepal, 1-0.

Vietnam stayed unbeaten after whipping Nepal, 1-0, for their second straight victory.

Meanwhile, Sibol tries its luck in DOTA 2 when it meets India on Friday.

(ai/mnm)