By REYNALD MAGALLON
After the senior’s team turned heads in the recently concluded Asia Cup, it’s now the time for the Gilas Pilipinas girl’s team to strut its wares in the Asian stage when it vies for the Division A promotion in the FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championship in Amman, Jordan.
The Filipinas, along with head coach Pat Aquino and deputy Aileen Lebornio, are already set to fly to Amman on Saturday, July 8 for the Division B tiff set on July 10 to 16.
Gilas is drawn with Maldives, Hong Kong, and Jordan in the Group A where the Nationals need to finish in the top two spots to advance to the knockout stage. The winner of the tournament will get the chance to join the other elite Asian teams in the Division A.
Aquino shared that the team has been practicing for a month now with assistant coach Lebornio facilitating the practice while he was away with the senior’s team.
We’ll be leaving tomorrow night. As far as I’m concerned, okay naman na lahat. We are ready to go,” Aquino told Tempo-Manila Bulletin a day before their flight to Jordan.
“They’ve been practicing together for almost a month na and habang wala ako, coach Ai Lebornio was the one heading the practices and she will be the one heading the team actually. I’ll be assisting her na lang but as far as we are concerned everything is a go na,” he added.
Gilas will be banking on the leadership of Ava Fajardo and Ryan Kelly Nair, two holdovers from the previous U16 team which finished third in the 2021 edition.
Joining the two are Nevaeh Smith, Demicah Arnaldo, Naima Navarro, Shannon Sayson, Isabella De Jesus, Alyssia Palma, Christina Lapasaran, Ariel De La O, Scarlett Mercado, and Sophia Canindo
Although not putting much pressure on the girls, Aquino said it would also be a great achievement for the u16 team to replicate the senior’s team performance and get the long-coveted promotion.
“It’s always big na nanalo ka you are turning heads but syempre maraming obstacle pa iyan I know it’s hard to be up there coming into games like this sana lang maging up to it yung mga bata. They will be ready, I know naman lalaban itong mga ito,” he added.
