RAJKO Toroman said Serbia considers the result of its match against Gilas Pilipinas in the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade a real disappointment.
The former Smart Gilas coach said the Serbian team and its fans were left disappointed by the result, according to persons he spoke to back home after the hosts were taken to the limit by a young Philippine team in their second outing in the Fiba OQT.
“I was talking with some of my friends in Serbia. It was a big disappointment in Serbia with the result despite the fact that Serbia won this game. But the way they did was very tough. That’s my congratulations to the Gilas team," said Toroman.
Toroman, the pioneer coach of the Gilas program, appeared on SPIN Zoom In on Thursday, just hours after his fancied home team was taken to the limit by Gilas before escaping with an 83-76 victory.
To think that the Philippines lost to Serbia by 59 just two years earlier at the 2019 Fiba World Cup in Foshan, China added insult to the injury, the Serbian coach added.
“Because if you remember, two years ago in the World Cup, they lost the game against Serbia. Now, they came with a young team and they gave them a hard time until two, three minutes,” he said.
Although he admitted he wasn’t able to catch the game on television or online from Jakarta where he is now coach of Indonesia's national team, Toroman was following the match through live statistics, enough for him to see how Gilas performed against Serbia.
Toroman admitted he wasn’t expecting a Gilas victory due to the experience of Serbia, but noted that the effort definitely proves that the national squad is already on a different level.
“When I saw Gilas in Bahrain in the second window (Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers), [I said] that’s a very talented and athletic team. They proved it by beating Korea two times on the third window and they proved now that in the future, they can be a respectable team,” said Toroman.
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