Gilas' gold medal run feels more and more like destiny with these kinds of stories.
It's surprising just how many problems Gilas Pilipinas endured in the Asian Games and yet still managed to come out with one of the best title runs the national team has ever seen.
In yet another bizarre story, Gilas assistant coach Richard del Rosario revealed one hiccup that almost ended the national team's campaign before it even began. Literally before their opener against Bahrain, Gilas encountered a problem.
"Even during our first game against Bahrain, I was being asked to check the starting lineup, as I was checking our lineups, I found out that 'yung mga numbers ng mga player were different from the uniforms. And so they were threatening na no, these guys can't play," del Rosario told One News' The Game.
The veteran coach also hinted that some people forged signatures from Gilas' coaching staff.
"Funny thing there was a signature from coach Tim (Cone) and sa akin, 'yung pangalan ko nandun, pero we didn't sign anything."
Good thing the jersey issue has been resolved and the rest is Asiad history.
Gilas considered all these problems as blessings in disguise as del Rosario said the team got stronger as they bonded and supported each other.
"We believed that it was really destiny. God played a role in this medal. That's why we are so thankful and grateful na nanalo tayo at napasaya ang Pilipinas after a long time na naging malungkot tayo sa larangan ng basketball."