By REYNALD MAGALLON
All hands were on deck for Gilas Pilipinas as it buckled down to work on the first day of its buildup for FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in a closed-door setup at the Inspire Sports Academy on Friday, June 21.
Naturalized player Justin Brownlee and captain Japeth Aguilar led the attendees for the Nationals’ first meeting since the first window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers last February.
Also in attendance were PBA Philippine Cup Finals protagonists June Mar Fajardo and CJ Peres of San Miguel and Chris Newsome of Meralco alongside fellow PBA star Calvin Oftana of TNT.
Overseas players Kai Sotto, Dwight Ramos and Carl Tamayo as well as collegiate stars Kevin Quiambao of La Salle and Mason Amos of Ateneo were also spotted in the series of photos uploaded by Inspire Sports in its official Facebook page.
Aguilar and Amos were initially named to the Gilas pool as reserves but they were elevated to the main roster with AJ Edu and Jamie Malonzo still recovering from injuries.
Noticeably still missing in the morning session presided over by head coach Tim Cone was Scottie Thompson although Ginebra players Ralph Cu and Donald Gumaru were also present to provide extra warm bodies.
Curiously, FEU head coach Sean Chambers was also in attendance along with Gilas team manager and assistant coach Richard Del Rosario and Jong Uichico.
Gilas is grouped with European powerhouses Latvia and Georgia and it needs to finish in the Top 2 to advance to the crossover semifinals against the two best teams from the group of Montenegro, Brazil and Cameroon.
The Nationals will spend the weekend in the camp before they take on the Taiwan Mustangs of former PBA coach Chris Gavina on Monday in a friendly game which will also serve as the team’s official send off before they embark on a Europe trip the next day.
Gilas is scheduled to play the national teams of Turkey and Poland in an effort to simulate playing against European teams before flying straight to Riga, Latvia for the tournament slated July 2-8.
