FOURTEEN cagers showed up in the Gilas Pilipinas national team training pool’s first official practice for the FIBA World Cup last Wednesday night at the Meralco Gym in Pasig.
Former PBA six-time MVP June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez of San Miguel Beer, Ginebra’s Scottie Thompson and Japeth Aguilar, Roger Pogoy and JP Erram of TNT, and Meralco’s Chris Newsome led the pro league stars in the session held behind closed doors.
Overseas-based standouts Kiefer Ravena, Thirdy Ravena, Bobby Ray Parks Jr., and Carl Tamayo of the Japan B.League, Korea Basketball League’s Rhenz Abando, Toledo mainstay AJ Edu, and naturalized big man Ange Kouame completed the attendees.
NBA star Jordan Clarkson is expected to join the pool later in its preparations for the blue-ribbon world cage spectacle on August 25 to Sept. 10 that will be co-hosted by the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia.
Justin Brownlee, 35, is set to return to the country next week after attending his son’s graduation in the United States.
Kai Sotto is also in the US to try his luck in the Dallas Mavericks camp.
Gilas was drawn with Italy, Dominican Republic, and Angola in Group A of the World Cup.
The nationals will toughen up via European training camps in Estonia, Lithuania and possibly in Latvia.
The Filipino cagers need to finish at least in the top two at the end of the group stage to advance to the next round and hopefully boost their bid of becoming the best placed Asian squad to directly qualify to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
