Moment of truth: All-Filipino Gilas Pilipinas opens Asian Games title defense vs Bahrain

Games today:

(Aichi International Arena)

9 a.m. — China vs Kazakhstan

12 p.m. — Philippines vs Bahrain

3 p.m. — Indonesia vs South Korea

6 p.m. — Saudi Arabia vs Japan

Gilas Pilipinas is confident it has Bahrain all figured out as it sets its quest for a repeat gold medal in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in motion today.

Despite fielding an all-local composition against an opposition parading multiple naturalized players, the Philippine squad is embracing the challenge of defending the title it won three years ago in China to end a 61-year wait for the mint.

The Filipinos are all locked in and ready to take on Bahrain in the 12 p.m. (Manila time) encounter at the Aichi International Arena.

“We have a pretty good idea on how to battle against Bahrain,” Gilas assistant coach Richard del Rosario said.

Although lacking in size, sans young behemoths 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto and AJ Edu and the recent retirement of June Mar Fajardo from national team duties, Gilas is looking to take advantage of its speed and quickness to counter Bahrain’s height advantage./

Gilas is fielding a new squad in the 20th edition of the Asiad with only Calvin Oftana, who replaced injured naturalized player Justin Brownlee but only joined the team last Wednesday, as the only holdover from the gold medal-winning crew in Hangzhou.

Oftana is joined by Adrian Nocum, Robert Bolick, Sedrick Barefield, Jerrick Ahanmisi, RJ Abarrientos, Don Trollano, Zav Lucero and big men Justin Arana, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, Brandon Bates and Justine Baltazar.

Gilas has prepared for the competition for nearly a month, including a training camp in South Korea.

Although Gilas got pummeled by its South Korean counterparts in two friendlies over the weekend, head coach Tim Cone firmly believes his team can defend the title.

“I think the expectations for this one is going to be a little bit different for us. But, you know, we’re still going to expect the gold, but we’re just going to worry about what we do every day. And that’s what we did in 2023: just worry about what’s right in front of us,” he said.

“Take care of that every day, and hope that at the end of the time, we look up and we have a gold medal again. But definitely, it’s a little different experience this time around than it was in ‘23.”

And it starts with a rematch over the Bahrainis.

Gilas routed Bahrain, 89-61, in the group stage of the pandemic-delayed Asiad three years ago.

However, this time Gilas won’t have its naturalized reinforcements, Brownlee and Ange Kouame.

The Philippines will be taking on a rejigged Bahrain team, which is bringing in former foreign citizens 6-foot-7 JaKarr Sampson, big men 6-foot-10 Uros Ilic and 6-foot-11 Elijah Thomas and high-scoring 6-foot-6 guard-forward Austin Ajukwa in hopes of a historic first podium finish in the quadrennial meet.

Gilas is particularly keeping a close eye on Sampson following his monster performance in Bahrain’s unbeaten run in the FIBA 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.

“They have a naturalized player, Sampson. He’s good. He can shoot from the outside. He’s very strong,” Del Rosario said.

Gilas will battle Kazakhstan on Saturday before clashing with China on Monday in a rematch of the previous edition’s semifinal to close the Group C action.

Only the top two teams in the three groups will advance to the quarterfinal outright. The best two No. 3 teams in the pool stage will occupy the remaining Last 8 spots.

Meanwhile, China and Kazakhstan clash at 9 a.m.

Indonesia and South Korea square off at 3 p.m. while Saudi Arabia and host Japan cross paths in the 6 p.m. night cap in Group A in the second day of hostilities that will happen more than week before the Asian Games go full blast on 19 September at the Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya.