Basketball: How to watch Philippines live at FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 – full schedule

The Philippines’ men’s basketball team have one last chance to make the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

They go to the Latvian capital Riga this week to play in Group A of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) alongside the hosts and Georgia.

Those three teams will play each other once with the top two from the round-robin going through to the semi-finals with two out of Brazil, Cameroon and Montenegro in Group B.

Only the final victors will secure an Olympic quota* in Paris with the Philippines’ last appearance coming at Munich 1972.

Tim Cone, in his third stint as Gilas Pilipinas head coach, masterminded the team to glory at last October’s Asian Games in Hangzhou and wins in their first two Asia Cup qualifiers in February.

Cone has opted for continuity from those Asia Cup qualifiers, meaning no room for Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson in the 12-man roster.

That was reduced to 11 when Scottie Thompson was ruled out due to a back problem, with Justin Brownlee and Kai Sotto carrying most of their nation’s hopes on their shoulders.

In two warm-up games in Europe ahead of the OQT, the Gilas went down 84-73 to Türkiye before falling to a narrow 82-80 defeat at the hands of Poland despite 30 points from Brownlee.

Scroll down to find out when the Gilas will be in action in Riga.

*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes’ participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024. Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.