By Adrian Stewart Co
Ilonggo brothers Kiefer and Thirdy Ravena and Bacolodnon Samjosef Belangel will lead the Gilas Pilipinas in the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup beginning tonight at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The three Western Visayas-based cagers will form part of the 12-man national men’s basketball team of returning head coach Vincent “Chot” Reyes in the week-long tournament.
Also listed in the roster are TNT Tropang Giga center John Paul Erram, Carl Tamayo, Rhon Jay Abarrientos, William Navarro, Francis Lopez, Geo Chiu, Kevin Quimbao, Rhenz Abando, and Bobby Ray Parks Jr.
Dwight Ramos was supposed to be part of the squad but backed out due to alleged shin splints injury, according to Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.
“The competition in Jakarta will be crucial to the continuing development of the younger players in preparation for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023,” said Reyes, who will be flanked by assistant coaches Nenad Vucinic, Jong Uichico, and Sandro Soriano.
The Gilas Pilipinas will open their campaign against Lebanon at nine o’clock tonight. They will next face India at four in the afternoon on Friday and New Zealand at nine in the evening on Sunday.
The format of the tournament is all 16 teams are to compete in the group phase with the top teams in each group automatically moving on to the quarterfinals, while the second and third seeds of each group will compete in a qualification phase.
The qualification phase to determine the four teams that will move on to the next round is on July 18 and 19, the quarterfinals round will begin on July 20, the semifinals on July 23, and the finals on July 24.
Gilas Pilipinas last participated in the FIBA Asia Cup in 2017 where PBA players Terrence Romeo, Jayson Castro, Gabe Norwood, and Christian Standhardinger bannered the team.
The national team then swept the group phase with a 3-0 record but lost to South Korea in the quarterfinals and to Lebanon in the classification for fifth place. They salvaged their campaign with a win over Jordan to claim seventh place./ASC, WDJ
