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[av_heading heading=’ Who’s heading to FIBA qualifiers? ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Sunday, November 19, 2017
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MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas trimmed to 16 its lineup of players heading to their first two matches in the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers this week.
FIBA first-timers Kiefer Ravena, Allein Maliksi, Kevin Alas, and Rey Mark Belo made it to the roster. Naturalized center Andray Blatche was included, too.
Bannering the team were June Mar Fajardo, Gabe Norwood, Jeth Troy Rosario, Matthew Wright, Roger Pogoy, Carl Bryan Cruz, Raymond Almazan, Japeth Aguilar, Terrence Romeo, Calvin Abueva, and Jayson Castro.
The following were eliminated: Baser Amer, Mike Tolomia, Von Pessumal, Russel Escoto, Kevin Ferrer, LA Revilla, and Jio Jalalon, who was still recovering from an injury.
Under head coach Vincent “Chot” Reyes, the Philippine team was slotted in Group B of the Asian qualifiers along with reigning 2017 FIBA Asia champion Australia and regional rivals Japan and Chinese Taipei.
Gilas will play against Japan on Nov. 24 as it opens its campaign at the Komazawa Olympic Park General Sports Gymnasium in Tokyo before facing Chinese Taipei on Nov. 27 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“I think we have a very good chance against Japan, against Chinese-Taipei,” said Reyes. “It’s really gonna boil down to the main difficulty with the Japan weather and their crowd support.”/PN
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