GILAS Pilipinas in the East Asia Super League?
PBA chairman Ricky Vargas yesterday said this one possibility the league may consider, the nationals seeing action in the inaugural tourney of the EASL next year.
“We may even consider including in the discussion the Philippine team or Gilas,” Vargas said yesterday in a press conference via Zoom. “We want to be competitive, and we will be competitive. That’s how we look at it.”
EASL co-founder and CEO Matt Beyer, who was joined by Vargas and PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial in the press con, echoed Vargas’ thoughts.
“It’s all about being competitive so that’s what the fans wanna to see. We want to see the best Filipino teams possible,” Beyer.
“We wanna have the best matches possible on a weekly basis so I think in terms of this partnership with the PBA, we want to be long term, fair, equitable and true win-win.”
“We support the PBA’s method of selecting teams,” Beyer said. “We’re looking forward to strong Filipino teams taking part in the EASL.”
Gilas Pilipinas is currently toughening up for its hosting of Group A games of the World Cup qualifiers in February next year.
These games are two Gilas -South Korea tiffs, two New Zealand-India matches, Gilas-New Zealand, Gilas-India, South Korea-India, and South Korea-New Zealand games.
Initially, the Gilas-South Korea and New Zealand-India matches were set on Nov. 26 and 29.
Japan will host two Group B games of the November window in Sendai: China-Japan on Nov. 27 and Japan-China a day later.
Both games between Australia and Chinese Taipei will be played during the February window.
Gilas proved its worth in the third window of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers in Clark when the team completed an emphatic 3-0 sweep and 6-0 record overall.
