But the business mogul and sports benefactor acknowledged that a lot needs to be done to improve Gilas’s chances of qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics.

Despite the national team’s sixth-place finish in Guangzhou 2010—the worst for the county in the quadrennial event since 1966—Pangilinan is still confident London remains in sight.

“Medyo minalas lang tayo sa Guangzhou. Wala si [naturalized player] Marcus Douthit and may injury sina Japeth [Aguilar] and Sol Mercado,” said Pangilinan.

“We will sit down with coach Rajko [Toroman] and the rest of the coaching staff to know the things that need improvement and what our chances are for the coming Olympic qualifier,” he added.

Pangilinan attended Tuesday’s special edition of the weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum at the Dragon Gate Restaurant on Roxas Boulevard in Manila to hand cash incentives to the three Filipino boxers who won medals in the quadrennial meet.

Although the purpose of the event was to recognize gold medalist boxer Rey Saludar, silver medalist Annie Albania and bronze medalist Victorio Saludar, Pangilinan was sought for his evaluation of Gilas’s performance in Guangzhou 2010.

“We need to examine the mistakes and the things that went right in Guangzhou,” said Pangilinan. “For every defeat, you should take that opportunity to improve yourself.”

Douthit was not able to play because he still doesn’t have a Philippine passport. Aguilar has to fly home because of a knee injury he sustained in a tune-up game against the Dongguan Leopards of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).

Mercado, one of the three reinforcements from the Philippine Basketball Association, was not 100 percent due to a foot injury.

The champion of the 2011 Fiba Asia Men’s Championship, which is tentatively set in Shanghai, earns a berth in the London Games and Pangilinan is hoping Toroman could make the team competitive for the qualifier.

Lebanon, which according to Toroman could have won the gold medal in Guangzhou if only it participated, is a top contender in the Olympic qualifier because of its naturalized player Jackson Vroman.

“Ayoko mawalan ng pag-asa but after seeing the competition in Guangzhou, we need to do a better job to improve our chance for the London Olympics,” said Pangilinan.

Smart Gilas’s sixth-place finish in Guangzhou matched the country’s worst finish in the 1966 Bangkok Asiad.

Since 1982, the Philippines never missed the semifinal round of the Asiad except in 2006 where the local federation was serving its suspension by the International Basketball Federation.

Joel Orellana, Business Mirror