Gilas Pilipinas will be buckling down to work earlier than scheduled in preparation for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Latvia from 2 to 7 July.
Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) executive director Erika Dy told Daily Tribune that instead of the original schedule of 22 June, members of the national squad will reconvene at the Inspire Sports Academy on 21 June to kick off their preparation for the crucial tourney that offers the last three tickets to the Paris Olympics.
Dy stressed that Gilas coach Tim Cone wants to come up with a more solid preparation to steer the Filipinos to their first Olympic appearance since the 1972 Summer Games in Munich.
“We start on the 21st,” Dy said in a short message to Daily Tribune.
Tough tasks await the Filipinos as they are bracketed in Pool A together with Georgia, which is bannered by Goga Bitadze of the Orlando Magic, and Latvia, which is headed by Kristaps Porzingis of the Boston Celtics and Davis Bertans of the Charlotte Hornets.
The Filipinos will be reinforced by Justin Brownlee and will be composed of the core of June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Scottie Thompson, Kevin Quiambao, Dwight Ramos, Kai Sotto, Calvin Oftana, Japeth Aguilar and Mason Amos.
Dy, however, has yet to know the arrival of Brownlee, who will be flying in from Jakarta after reinforcing Pelita Jaya in the Indonesian Basketball League.
“Not yet sure about JB’s (Brownlee) ticket to Manila,” she said, adding that they expect everybody to be on board in the first day of training, including those from abroad and the stars competing in the ongoing Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup best-of-seven finals series between San Miguel Beer and Meralco.
“They should all be here on the 21st.”
Based on the original schedule, Gilas will shut down its Inspire training camp after a few days to fly to Istanbul on 25 June and face Turkey in a friendly match on 27 June. Then, they will travel to Sosnowiec, an industrial city in southern Poland, to face the Polish in another tune-up match.
From there, they will take a land trip to the Latvian capital of Riga to open their OQT campaign against the Latvians on 3 July at the Arena Riga.
