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Gilas Pilipinas will have a rare shot at making the Tokyo Olympics after the Philippines have been appointed by FIBA as a replacement team for one of the four Olympic Qualifying Tournaments for men.

Following the announcement of the National Federation of New Zealand to withdraw from the #FIBAOQT & the @FIBA3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament, @FIBA has decided to replace New Zealand by the following teams, according to the respective rankings:

🔗 https://t.co/RH2zt1zVY1 pic.twitter.com/aDNJz44Hm9

— FIBA media (@FIBA_media) February 26, 2021

The development comes after New Zealand pulled out of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Serbia, one of four tournaments to determine the last four countries who will go to the Tokyo basketball tournament.

Gilas competed in the Olympic qualifiers back in 2016 which Manila hosted, but sadly, they were eliminated right away.

The Serbia tournament includes Italy, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Senegal.

Only the winner of each of the four OQTs will make it to Tokyo.

Already in the Olympics are Japan as host country, Spain, Argentina, France, Australia, United States, Nigeria, and Iran.

FIBA.com photo

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Levi Verora

Senior Writer at Sports Bytes PH

Levi Verora Jr. has been in the Philippine sports writing scene since 2013. He has covered national and international events like the the FIBA Olympic Qualifiers, Asia Cup, and 3x3, Asian Volleyball Championship, Southeast Asian Games, and AFF Suzuki Cup.

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