By JONAS TERRADO
Kiefer Ravena will vie for an unprecedented sixth gold medal after being included in the 12-man roster of Gilas Pilipinas for the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Ravena was able to make it to coach Chot Reyes’ final lineup for the biennial meet which formally starts next week despite not being included in the pool of 16 players named last March.
He will join his younger brother and fellow Japan B.League cager Thirdy Ravena along with eight PBA players and two amateurs in the Philippines’ quest to win a record-extending 19th gold in men’s basketball.
June Mar Fajardo, Matthew Wright, RR Pogoy, Kevin Alas, Troy Rosario, Mo Tautuaa, Isaac Go and Kib Montalbo composed the group of big league cagers with Will Navarro and LeBron Lopez rounding out the roster.
No cager has won more SEAG golds than Kiefer, who made his debut in the regional competition back in 2011 when the Philippines won in Jakarta, Indonesia.
His second came two years later in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar before adding a third at the 2015 Singapore Games.
Ravena’s fourth happened in the 2017 Kuala Lumpur edition and was part of a star-studded Gilas squad that took the gold in the 2019 Manila event.
Action in the standard five-on-five competition starts on May 15 with the gold medal match slated May 22.
Rosario will seek a fourth straight gold, having been part of the Philippine cage teams in 2015, 2017 and 2019 while Fajardo and Wright are also holdovers from the 2019 squad.
Alas will shoot for a second gold, more than eight years after playing in the 2013 Nay Pyi Taw meet while Tautuaa was part of the men’s 3×3 team that ruled the 2019 SEAG.
