The Philippines could end up locking horns with its FIBA World Cup tormentors next year in the final qualifying tournament for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
So far, eight countries, including host France, have qualified for the Olympics.
The other seven are the United States, Canada, Australia, South Sudan, Serbia, Germany and Japan.
Those vying for the four remaining slots are apart from Italy and the Philippines are Angola, Bahamas, Bahrain, Brazil, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Montenegro, New Zealand, Poland, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Slovenia and Spain.
The FIBA is staging four tournaments with six teams each and the winner of each tournament will earn a ticket to the Olympics.
The Philippines won just one of five games in the FIBA World Cup that concluded last night.
In the group stages, Gilas went down to the Dominican Republic, Angola and Italy before bowing to South Sudan in the classification round. Their only victory came against China in their last game.
The qualifying tournament will run from 2 to 7 July.
The Paris Olympics will be held from 26 July to 11 August.
