The Philippine national men’s basketball team moved up 11 places in the latest world rankings by FIBA released on Friday.
Sports5/Paul Ryan Tan
The latest list takes into account the silver medal finish of Gilas Pilipinas in last month’s FIBA Asia Championship.
The Philippines is now the 34th ranked basketball nation in the world, up from 45th prior to the Asian tournament.
The FIBA rankings are based on results from these major basketball tournaments: the Olympics, the FIBA World Cup (formerly known as the FIBA World Championship), and the different FIBA zone championship (Eurobasket, Africa, Americas, Asia, and Oceania). FIBA takes results from the last two Olympic cycles, including qualifying zone championships.
This means the Philippines’ latest ranking is based on its results in the FIBA Asia Championship since 2007. The country finished ninth in 2007, eighth in 2009, fourth in 2011, and second in 2013.
Overall, the Philippines is the sixth-ranked nation in Asia after China (12th), Iran (20th), Lebanon (29th), Jordan (30th), and South Korea (31st).
The Philippines’ ranking is expected to improve further after participating in the FIBA World Cup next year, since the tournament provides more points for competing national squads.
The United States, Spain, and Argentina remained the top three basketball nations in the world, according to the rankings.
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