Dirty dozen’ bared: Chot names Gilas team to FIBA Asia WC qualifier Nelson Beltran [ Source: Philippine Star ] - July 12, 2013 6 2 0 Gilas Pilipinas Lineup: 2013 FIBA Asia Championships.MANILA, Philippines - Eleven men culled from the best and brightest in Philippine basketall and a tall efficient naturalized player have been named to pursue the country’s mission of making it to the Spain World Cup via the tough qualifer in Fiba Asia set next month. Making the elite roster for the 27th FIBA Asia Championship firing off Aug. 1 are frontline players Marcus Douthit, Junmar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar, Ranidel de Ocampo and Marc Pingris, wing men Gary David, Jeff Chan, Larry Fonacier and Gabe Norwood, and point guards Jayson Castro, LA Tenorio and Jimmy Alapag. Hardly surprising was last pool addition Beau Belga ending up the last to be cut from the roster. Gilas Pilipinas and the rest of the FIBA Asia Championship participants actually have until today to submit their Final 12 for the Asian world qualifier slated Aug. 1-11 at the MOA Arena in Pasay and Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila. Reyes, however, chose to make the decision ahead of their six-game New Zealand grind to be kicked off by their match against the Hawkes Bay Hawks in Napier City today. “Beau Belga: the ultimate professional. Tough to tell him. But in the end he understood what’s best for the team. Dakila ka (Belga),” said Reyes on his Twitter account. Indeed, Belga understood everything, gamely accepting his fate. “Salamat coach. Thank you din sa pagtitiwala (Thanks for the trust)” said Belga on his own Twitter page, grateful for the opportunity to be with the training pool. Belga was merely a last-minute substitute to the injury-stricken Sonny Thoss in Gilas Pilipinas’ Lithuanian training. As such, the 6-foot-6 Rain or Shine mainstay made the 24-man roster Gilas Pilipinas submitted to FIBA Asia last month. Also included in the list were Thoss, Greg Slaughter, Kelly Williams, Jared Dillinger, Ryan Reyes and Gilas cadet players Kevin Alas, Garvo Lanete, Matt Ganuelas, Jake Pascual, Ronald Pascual and RR Garcia. In the end, expectedly composing the final lineup are naturalized player Douthit and PBA stars Fajardo, Aguilar, De Ocampo, Pingris, David, Chan, Fonacier, Norwood, Castro, Tenorio and Alapag. Douthit, De Ocampo, David, Chan, Fonacier, Norwood and Tenorio are holdovers from the Gilas squad that reigned supreme in the 2012 Jones Cup and finished fourth in the succeeding FIBA Asia Cup. Returnees from the last FIBA Asia Championship in Wuhan, China are Douthit, De Ocampo and Alapag. Norwood and Aguilar have been to earlier FIBA Asia events. To make their FIBA Asia debuts are Fajardo, Pingris and Castro. In the eyes of former national coaches Tim Cone and Rajko Toroman, Reyes has got a team well capable of accomplishing its mission of gaining a World Cup ticket in the coming Asian joust. Gilas Pilipinas needs to just land in the Top Three to qualify to the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain. Meanwhile, two-time FIBA Asia champ Iran stopped erstwhile fellow unbeaten South Korea, 71-68, to seize the lead in the Jones Cup Wednesday. Jordan finally broke into the win-column with an 86-77 win over Taipei B even as Egypt nipped Lebanon, 64-62, and USA crushed Japan, 64-56. The Lebanese struggled to 2-3 start in the tourney as their naturalized player Lorenzo Woods just arrived in Taipei. Source: philstar/sports/2013/07/12/964537/dirty-dozen-bared-chot-names-gilas-team-fiba-asia-wc-qualifier - See more at: pba-online.net/basketball/fiba-asia-championships/Dirty-dozen-bared-Chot-names-Gilas-team-to-FIBA-Asia-WC-qualifier/28203/#sthash.PdfOMxNk.dpuf
Posted on: Fri, 12 Jul 2013 02:10:38 +0000
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