SBP bares schedule for Gilas-China tuneup ahead of Belgrade OQT

Gilas Pilipinas will be facing another test before competing in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, Serbia in late June.

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) special assistant to the president Ryan Gregorio revealed to GMA News Online that the nationals will face the Chinese national team on Wednesday, June 23, in a tune-up game.

The exhibition game will be held inside the Angeles University Foundation Gym in Pampanga, the same venue where the final window of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers were held last week.

The Filipinos will stay put in Clark after sweeping the window and will undergo the RT-PCR tests on June 23 at 9 a.m. before taking on China at 4:30 in the afternoon.

China won four games in the third window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers, beating Japan twice and Chinese Taipei twice, including a 115-66 rout.

Gilas will be leaving for Belgrade on June 24 before clashing with host Serbia on June 30 and Dominican Republic on July 1 with the top two teams advancing to the playoffs on July 3.

Gilas head coach and SBP program director Tab Baldwin said they have yet to finalize the 12-man lineup that will play in the OQT.

"I think we’ll be taking either 12 or 13 players but we haven’t made a final decision on that yet but obviously we’re only allowed to play 12, we can’t do what we did here and change the roster," Baldwin said.

"We still have a lot of work to do but these young men have earned a day off so they get Monday off but Tuesday we’ll be back at work."

—JMB, GMA News