Trio of towers leads youth cage pool

Photo from FIBA.com Triple towers AJ Edu, Carl Tamayo and Kai Sotto will lead the 20-strong Batang Gilas training pool for the 2018 International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Under-18 Asia Championship set from August 5-11 in Nonthaburi, Thailand.

Also a member of the Gilas Pilipinas 23 for 2023 World Cup pool, the trio will spearhead the country’s mission of finishing in the top four of the Asian U-18 tourney to advance in the 2019 FIBA U19 World Championship.

To help them achieve that feat are standouts of the Philippine U-17 team in Forthsky Padgriago, RC Calimag, Geo Chio, Raven Cortez, Joshua Lazaro, Bismarck Lina and Yukien Andrada.

Led by the 7’1 Sotto and the 6’7 Tamayo, the RP U-17 squad finished 13th out of 16 nations in the recently concluded FIBA U-17 World Cup in Argentina.

Also in the pool are Xavier’s Nathan Chan, Dave Ildefonso and Miguel Oczon of National University, Rhayyan Amsali of San Beda, Ramon Marzan of University of Santo Tomas alongside Xyrus Torres and Joshua Ramirez of Far Eastern University.

International hoops standout Dalph Panopio from Rome, Italy also made the cut.

The 6’9 Filipino-Nigerian AJ Edu is making his comeback in the Philippine team after donning the national colors two years ago.

Edu impressed officials in his Pilipinas debut by spearheading the team’s decent seventh place finish in the 2017 FIBA 3×3 World Cup alongside Juan Gomez de Liano, Encho Serrano and Amsali.

The Philippines is bracketed in Group B along with powerhouse China, Lebanon and United Arab Emirates.

Group A features Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan and Indonesia while Group D pits South Korea, Chinese Taipei, India and Syria.

Oceania teams Australia and New Zealand lead Group C alongside Bahrain and host Thailand.