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MANILA – With Terrence Romeo begging off due to a knee injury, NLEX Road Warriors rookie Kiefer Ravena is favored to land a spot in Gilas Pilipinas’ “Final 12” for the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers.
The Ilonggo guard said he will be ready if ever Gilas head coach Vincent “Chot” Reyes includes his name in the 12-man roster that will battle Japan on Friday night and Chinese-Taipei on Monday.
“Isa ito sa mga goals na na-set ko for myself. I wanted to give myself a chance to make it to the Gilas roster,” Ravena said. “It’s always been an honor to represent the country in whatever tournament I played in.”
“But I think playing with the best of the best gives me a lot of opportunities for improvement because I will be around with guys who have proven themselves in international competitions,” he added.
While it will be his first time – if ever – to play with PBA veterans in Gilas, Ravena already represented the Philippines numerous times, including four title finishes in the Southeast Asian Games.
Romeo of GlobalPort Batang Pier, who was nursing a knee contusion, begged off from joining Gilas in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday afternoon.
Reyes said Romeo’s absence will be a huge blow to Gilas but promised that he will make it up with what he has on the pool.
“Malaki syempre ang effect ng absence ni Terrence but we will have to choose from who we have here,” Reyes said. “Since the entire pool is in Japan, we can choose who can take his (Romeo) spot in the Final 12.”
Aside from Ravena and Romeo, also in the 16-man lineup were Andray Blatche, June Mar Fajardo, Gabe Norwood, Jeth Troy Rosario, Matthew Wright, Roger Pogoy, Carl Bryan Cruz, Raymond Almazan, Japeth Aguilar, Calvin Abueva, Jayson Castro, Allein Maliksi, Kevin Alas, and Rey Mark Belo./PN
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