Dwight Ramos, Kai Sotto lead Gilas Pilipinas' 12-man lineup for FIBA OQT

Gilas Pilipinas has named the 12 men who will banner the national team in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, Serbia.

After their stellar performance in the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers, young guns Kai Sotto and Dwight Ramos are tipped to lead the nationals according to a list released by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) Thursday afternoon.

Joining them are naturalized big man Angelo Kouame along with other debuting wards in SJ Belangel, Carl Tamayo, and RJ Abarrientos.

Completing the cast are team captain Isaac Go, Justine Baltazar, Geo Chiu, Jordan Heading, Will Navarro, and Mike Nieto.

Teen prospect Lebron Lopez was the final cut and joined Javi Gomez De Liaño and Jaydee Tungcab as those who competed in the Clark Qualifiers but were not included in the Belgrade OQT roster.

Gilas will face host Serbia on June 30 and the Dominican Republic on July 1 with the top two teams advancing to the playoffs on July 3.

According to SBP special assistant to the president Ryan Gregorio, the Filipinos will depart tonight at 9:30 p.m. and ride the Turkish Airlines flight TK085 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). They will have a stop-over in Istanbul, Turkey before heading to Belgrade.

—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA News