GILAS Pilipinas kicks off its campaign in the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers when it takes on Indonesia on Sunday night at the Britama Arena in Jakarta.
The match is at 7 p.m. Manila time.
Gilas Pilipinas begins its quest to reach the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup, formerly known as the Fiba Asia Championship, under the new format where teams will play in three windows, the top two teams in each group making it to the tournament proper.
The Philippines is bracketed in Group A with Indonesia, Thailand and Asian powerhouse Korea.
Gilas Pilipinas coach Mark Dickel and his staff led by program director Tab Baldwin mixed PBA players with amateur and collegiate standouts for the first window.
Team captain Kiefer Ravena leads the PBA players with CJ Perez, Troy Rosario, Poy Erram, Roger Pogoy, Abu Tratter and Justin Chua, along with special draftees Isaac Go and Matt Nieto, and amateur standouts Thirdy Ravena, Juan Gomez De Liano and Dwight Ramos.
“Obviously, the veteran players, the ones who have played internationally before, we are going to lean on them. The younger players who have played in Batang Gilas, for them, they have an idea of what it takes and they’re about to find out,” said Dickel.
Indonesia will be fielding a team without naturalized player Lester Prosper from Dominica, who has yet to secure an Indonesian passport to play for the national team. The team coached by Rajko Toroman will now be led by veteran Arki Wisnu and the core of the squad that played in the Southeast Asian Games last year.
“I expect it to be a close game, a difficult game, but it will be really good for us. I feel like the last couple of weeks of practice, we made huge strides. Sunday is a chance to prove that,” said Dickel.
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Source: Spin PH
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