REALITY has dawned for the members of Gilas Pilipinas inside the Calamba training camp.
Kiefer Ravena has alluded to the bitter truth of the postponement of the third window of the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup in a short message to his peers on his Facebook account.
"Thank you my brothers! We’ve fought day in and day out, pushed each other to our limits and sacrificed time away from family and loved ones. All part of our journey to represent our country," he wrote.
"To the Avengers aka our coaching staff, over 100 years of experience shared to a bunch of hard headed players. We appreciate you guys for the patience, dedication and attention to detail. We will bring everything with us to be better basketball players! Sa lahat ng Gilas Fans, hanggang sa muli! Salamat sa supporta! Kahit hindi tuloy ang laro, alam naman nandyan kayo para supportahan kami!"
Reports from the Middle East indicate the postponement of the Doha bubble citing concerns on the rapid outbreak of the new COVID-19 strain in Qatar.
Travel restrictions are set to be put in place, and thus, hampering the staging of the games to be held on Feb. 18 to 23.
Among those affected are teams in Group A, composed of Gilas, Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia; Group B, which features China, Japan, Chinese Taipei, and Malaysia; and Group E, which has Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and hosts Qatar.
Gilas was scheduled to fly out for Doha on Saturday.
Fiba, meanwhile, has yet to release an official announcement regarding the said window.
Ravena was among the first players to enter Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba back in Jan. 10, with the training camp officially commencing on Jan. 15.
Aside from Ravena, other PBA players called up for the camp were CJ Perez, Roger Pogoy, Troy Rosario, Justin Chua, and Raul Soyud.
Kai Sotto, Dwight Ramos, and Justine Baltazar, on the other hand, banner the cadets together with Juan and Javi Gomez de Liano, Rey Suerte, Matt and Mike Nieto, Calvin Oftana, William Navarro, Dave Ildefonso, Kemark Carino, and prospective naturalized player Ange Kouame.
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