KUALA LUMPUR (Mageshwaran's AsiaScope) - It surely is one of the intrigues of sporting realities that the Philippines have not been a part of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for almost four decades!

In sporting terms it may sound akin to having a FIFA World Cup without Brazil, an ICC Cricket World Cup without India or a Rugby World Cup without the All Blacks or - to take an analogy which resonates with the almost-100-million Filipinos - like "fish without water and conversely an ocean without the fishes."

While all the aforementioned countries have not only been an integral part of every international competition in their sport but also have achieved tremendous success in terms of results, why is it that when it comes to Philippines and basketball we are yet counting their reaching the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup to be played in Spain from Aug 30-Sept 14 as an achievement? Shouldn't the Gilas Pilipinas playing the Basketball World Cup be 'taken-for-granted' especially when every game in the Philippines including at the collegiate level can easily be a sold-out.

There have been many justifiable reasons for the Philippines' absence from the world's biggest basketball event for the last 40 years. The focus at Spain 2014 for the Philippines should be about reducing the number of those justifiable reasons without allowing even a single excuse to creep in.

Such a performance is certainly not impossible considering a similar feat achieved exactly a year and three days ago in the cauldronesque Mall of Asia when the Chot Reyes-powered Gilas Pilipinas outran, outplayed and finally outscored Korea in the Semi-Finals of the 27th FIBA Asia Championship.

The "sixth man" phenomenon was considered as one of the major contributors for this success with the 20,000-odd beast of a crowd cheering on Jayson Castro's every single dribble, Jim Alapag's every single long-range attempt and Japeth Aguilar's every single dunk.

Will the Gilas provide enough fodder for the beast to feed? That's the primary question and challenge that Reyes faces as he takes the team to Seville to play Argentina, Croatia, Greece, Puerto Rico and Senegal.

"We like the fact that we're playing in the city of Seville. We know we have a big Filipino population in the city and we expect them to come over, apart from the Filipinos flying over from Manila," Reyes said immediately after the draw.

Reyes has kept the "beast" well appetized with his regular and relevant posts on social media, but that certainly is only just that: appetizer. This "beast" seeks a feast!

Support from the stands is something no Philippines team has lacked in any event anywhere in the world, thanks to the Filipino Diaspora that is large and widespread. Reyes can be assured of that. The point of import and interest is what Reyes said after that.

"We would love to make the second round. To do that, we have to win two games to have a chance to progress to the Round of 16. That would be a huge win not only for our team but the whole Filipino nation," he pointed out.

To keep things simple and straight, for Reyes and his team of "underrated" players, playing in Spain, the task at hand on the court looks like an uphill battle. But off the court, those supporting this team do think that such an achievement is not difficult, even hoping for a win in every single game.

The five players who start the game for Philippines will be extremely passionate about it. But surely there will be more than 50 million off the court who will be more passionate.

Laban Pilipinas! Puso!

So long…

S Mageshwaran

FIBA Asia

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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