Losing is never fun, but a defeat at the hands of Chinese Taipei stung harder for Chot Reyes.

The Philippine national men’s basketball game dropped an 84-79 result to the Taiwanese on Saturday, its first loss in the FIBA Asia Championship.

Afterwards, Chot Reyes felt the need to say sorry to Filipino basketball fans deployed as overseas workers in Taiwan.

“First of all, I want to apologize to our countrymen in Taiwan,” said Reyes shortly after the match.

“We really wanted to dedicate this game to them because I know they have been victims of a lot of abuse.”

Relations between the Philippines and Taiwan have been thorny since May after the fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman by members of the Philippine Coast Guard.

Several attacks on Filipino workers by Taiwanese locals were reported, apart from various incidents of abuse.

Coming into the game, Filipino basketball fans salivated at the highly-charged matchup against Chinese Taipei, filling the Mall of Asia arena to cheer lustily for the national team.