On the strength of its stunning upset of world number 6 Latvia in the FIBA Olympic Qualifiers in Riga last July, the Philippines rose to 34th place in the FIBA world rankings, a testament to the strides taken by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas under Chairman Emeritus Manny V. Pangilinan and President Al S. Panlilio.

FIBA released the updated rankings days after the closing ceremonies of Paris 2024. The new list showed Gilas becoming the fifth best Asian team, overtaking Jordan, which dropped three spots to number 35.

Gilas was the fourth top riser in top 50 behind three Olympic teams in South Sudan (+11), silver medalist France (+5), and Japan (+5).

The Akatsuki 5 remains to be the top Asian team at 21, followed by Iran, Lebanon, and China claiming the 28th to the 30th spots. The two FIBA Asia and Oceania competitors, Australia and New Zealand, were at seventh and 22nd.

Entry to the Olympics would have catapulted the Philippines to a higher place. But Gilas ran into a red-hot Brazil team in the middle quarters of their FIBA OQT semifinal game, blowing an early double digit advantage and falling 71-60.

Nonetheless, its historic victory over a top-ranked European team in front of its home crowd 89-80 created waves not just ripples as it reached the semis despite a narrow 96-94 loss to No. 23 Georgia.

“Moving up in the FIBA rankings only means that Gilas and the SBP are moving in the right direction,” said SBP President Al Panlilio. “However, we cannot be satisfied with this as we want to keep moving forward and hopefully make it back to the Olympics as well. Gilas has achieved a lot already in a short span but there’s more work to be done.”

The world rankings saw a major shakeup in the leaderboard although the United States withstood the tremor and stayed rooted at the top spot after winning the gold medal in the Paris Games.

The second spot, however, now belongs to Serbia, which nearly pulled off a gargantuan feat against the NBA-powered Americans in the semis, followed by Germany at third place.