An all-local Gilas Pilipinas side faces an opponent with a surplus of imports as it opens its gold medal-retention bid at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Friday.

Bahrain is fielding four naturalized players — a luxury Gilas doesn’t have compared to the wealthy Middle Eastern side.

The Bahrainis are bringing in former foreign citizens JaKarr Sampson, big men Uros Ilic and Elijah Thomas and high-scoring guard-forward Austin Ajukwa in hopes of a historic first podium finish in the quadrennial meet.

Sampson is a resident naturalized player for Bahrain and has played for the Kingdom’s 2029 FIBA Asia Cup Pre-Qualifying Tournament.

The 6-foot-7 Sampson helped Bahrain remain unbeaten in four games in the Asia Cup pre-qualifier, averaging a double-double of 17.8 points and 10.3 rebounds with 2.8 assists and 1.3 steals per outing.

Sampson plays pro for the Zhejiang Guangsha in the Chinese Basketball League. He also saw action albeit brief in the National Basketball Association as a journeyman in Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, Sacramento and Indiana.

Ilic, on the other hand, is a 6-foot-10 player of Serbian descent. He is a regular fixture in Bahrain’s 3x3 teams.

Ajukwa is a 6-foot-6 guard who played National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1 basketball with Clemson and is also a 3x3 regular.

Thomas, who stands 6-foot-11, played college ball for Texas A&M and Clemson. He is currently signed with Al-Ittihad in the Saudi Arabia leagues.

Bahrain was crushed by the then-naturalized players Ange Kouame and Justin Brownlee-led Gilas, 61-89, in the group stage of the pandemic-delayed Hangzhou Asian Games three years ago.

The Bahrainis were eliminated in the quarterfinals qualification round and eventually finished 10th while Gilas went on to win its first gold medal in the Asiad after a 61-year drought.

Bahrain is making sure it will go deeper this time, and it starts Friday in a rematch with a shaky Gilas.

The Philippines will try to defend the gold without injured Brownlee, Kouame and almost all but one of its gold medal-winning roster in 2023.