THE Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 squad is winding up its final preparations for the FIBA 3×3 Olympic qualifying tournament with a twice-a-day training at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna.
Meralco rookie and the country’s No. 2 3×3 player Alvin Pasaol has finally joined his teammates after clearing the mandatory health protocols.
The team, composed of San Miguel Beer’s CJ Perez and Mo Tautuaa, Fil-Am wingman Joshua Munzon, Leonard Santillan, reserve Karl Dehesa, who is still completing the quarantine procedures, and Pasaol are set to leave on Sunday, May 23, for Graz, Austria for the May 26 to 30 tilt.
Coach Ronnie Magsanoc could not ask for more the way his charges worked doubly hard to prove they have what it takes.
“In terms of effort, I really could not ask for anything more from the players during our first week of training, and they also did their best to build on that with our online training sessions,” Magsanoc was quoted as saying by PBA.ph.
“Now it’s about bringing everything together and forming a team that we can be proud of, a team that can compete against the best in the world.”
Bracketed in Group C of the four-group, 20-country joust, Gilas will clash with Qatar and Slovenia on May 26, and then Dominican Republic and France two days later.
World No. 20 Gilas needs to finish in the top 2 of its group to reach the knockout rounds.
Perez and Tautuaa were part of the gold medal-winning team in the 30th Southeast Asian Games in Manila in 2019, while Munzon is the top 3×3 player in the country.
Magsanoc, a pro league great, lauded the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas for spearheading the nationals’ build-up for the qualifiers.
“The SBP did a tremendous job of collecting these talented players into one team so our job is to make sure we’ll have a cohesive unit,” Magsanoc said.
“We thank the SBP for giving us a safe training environment here so we can devote all our focus on our preparation for the qualifiers. There have been challenges along the way, but we’re happy that the team is finally complete.”
