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    Tab sticks to his Gilas pool, rules out additions to OQT lineup

    Tab decision closes OQT door on Ravena, Juan GdL, PBA players
    Jun 20, 2021
    PHOTO: fiba.basketball

    GILAS Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin has made his first cuts ahead of the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Serbia.

    The American-Kiwi mentor announced that the pool of players which Gilas brought to the Clark bubble of the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers will form the 12-man Philippine roster for the Belgrade OQT late in the month.

    "The players that we have here in this bubble are the players that will go to Serbia," he said after a 82-77 win over Korea on Sunday completed for Gilas a sweep of its three games in the third and final window of the qualifiers.

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      With no PBA players or any more additions to the pool, Dwight Ramos, Kai Sotto, and naturalized center Ange Kouame will be shoo-ins for the 12-man lineup in Serbia, although Baldwin said that those discussions will be held in the coming days.

      "I think we'll be taking either 12 or 13 players. We haven't made a final decision on that yet. We'll have to leave one or two behind, but the 12 that we select to play will be taken from this group here," he said.

      "Obviously, we're only allowed to play 12 players. We can't do what we did here and change the rosters game-by-game."

      Among those in contention for the Belgrade OQT roster include Isaac Go, Mike Nieto, Jordan Heading, William Navarro, Jaydee Tungcab, Justine Baltazar, Javi Gomez de Liano, SJ Belangel, RJ Abarrientos, Lebron Lopez, and Geo Chiu.

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      Carl Tamayo is also part of the roster, but it still depends on his recovery from his grade one left ankle sprain sustained in the game against Indonesia.

      If Baldwin sticks to this plan, it's a bad news for the likes of Rey Suerte, Matt Nieto, and Dave Ildefonso, who were all taken out of the pool before the Clark games due to injuries, as well as players such as Thirdy Ravena, Juan Gomez de Liano, Kobe Paras, and Allyn Bulanadi.

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        Gilas will be facing an uphill climb in Belgrade come June 30 as it plays hosts Serbia and Dominican Republic in the group stages, needing to finish in the top two to stay in contention for the last ticket to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

        Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph

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        PHOTO: fiba.basketball
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