Gilas Pilipinas to start camp for Olympics qualifiers on June 22

Gilas Pilipinas is gearing up for a busy schedule ahead of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Latvia in July as the national team is set to start its training camp late next month.

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) executive director Erika Dy bared that the nationals will reconvene on June 22 at the Inspire Sports Academy in Laguna, where head coach Tim Cone will prepare the squad for the OQT which will serve as the last path to the Paris Olympics in July.

From Laguna, Gilas will depart for Turkey which will host them for a friendly game against its national team on the June 27. They will then travel to Poland for another tuneup match before competing in the OQT proper in early July.

"In terms of preparing, our camp starts on June 22nd. That’s when we are going to convene the team again and they will be training at the Inspire Sports Academy," Dy said during the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) forum on Tuesday.

"After a few days, we will already leave for Turkey first where we would be playing a friendly game against the Turkey national team on 27th of June and from there, we will proceed to Poland, who’s also hosting us for another friendly game. From Poland, we go straight to Latvia for the Olympics Qualifiers."

Gilas will take on world no. 8 Latvia on July 3 at the Arena Riga in Riga, Latvia before facing no. 23 Georgia on July 4 at the same venue.

Regardless of their OQT result, Dy said the national team will proceed to their buildup for the second window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers in November where the country will host New Zealand and Hong Kong in two home games.

Dy also shared that Gilas will stick to Cone's original 12-man roster unless there's a need for a player to sit out due to injuries. Previously, Gilas had already tapped the services of Japeth Aguilar and Mason Amos, who will serve as the reserves.

"We’re sticking to coach Tim’s plan of having that 12-man roster but because of many injuries in the first window last February, we have learned from that so we have decided to name two more players as reserves in Japeth Aguilar and Mason Amos," Dy added.

—Bea Micaller/JKC, GMA Integrated News