GILAS battles in FIBA Asia Cup 2014

  GILAS' PRIDE. The official line up of team Pilipinas for 2014 FIBA Asia Cup.

Laban Pilipinas. Puso.This is the tag line in which the Philippines' national basketball team, Gillas Pilipinas, is popularly known for.

Today marks another historical moment in the Philippine basketball as the team flies to Wuhan, China as they will try to bring home the bacon starting this Saturday for the 2014 Fiba Asia Cup  . This is just another stepping stone for the team as the winner of this tournament automatically qualifies for the FIBA Asia Championship in 2015.

Cebuano player, June Mar Fajardo who is newly crowned PBA MVP, along with eight other PBA stars make their way to China today. Jay Washington of the GlobalPort Batang Pier, Paul Lee  of the Rain or Shine Elasto-Painters and Beau Belga have their chance now to prove their selves to the team as well as Kevin Alas, Garvo Lanete and Jared Dillinger as they are the new addition to the team who played in the last  2013 FIBA Asia Men’s Championships.

Jason Castro, who played very well in Manila making him named to the All-Star Five and the only Filipino to make it to the FIBA Asia mythical selection, along with Talk N' Text teammates Jimmy Alapag and Larry Fonacier, Gabe Norwood and Jeff Chan of Rain or Shine and marc Pingris of SanMig Coffee asked to take a break from this tournament after their game in the semifinal and final rounds of the PBA Governors' Cup.

The team is headed by their head coach Chot Reyes along with team manager Aboy Castro and assistant coaches Jong Uichico and Ryan Gregorio.

In one interview, Coach Reyes said that the team is far from ready because they only had 7 practices and they have little expectation from the said cup. The team will definitely be practicing more after they get back from China.

"The biggest gains we expect to get in this trip," team manger Aboy Castro butted in, " is the bonding and the camaraderie among members of the team who will be seeing each other as teammates for the first time.

The team falls with Group B and will be playing with Chinese Taipei, Jordan and Singapore.

Schedule of the Gilas' games:

July 12 (14:45)            Philippines    vs.    Chinese Taipei
July 14 (14:45)            Philippines    vs.    Singapore
July 15 (17:15)            Jordan          vs.    Philippines

Sources:

 http://philboxing.com/news/story-97032.html " GILAS SEES ACTION IN FIBA ASIA CUP "

 http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/369334/sports/basketball/gilas-pilipinas-far-from-ready-for-fiba-asia-cup-coach-chot-reyes "Gilas Pilipinas 'far from ready' for FIBA Asia Cup – coach Chot Reyes"