GILAS Pilipinas 3x3 men’s team warms up for the final stage of its preparations for the coming Tokyo Olympic Qualifier in Graz, Austria.
The quintet of CJ Perez, Joshua Munzon, Mo Tautuaa, Alvin Pasaol, and Leonard Santillan began its twice-a-day training at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna after finally clearing protocols following a brief break from training camp last week.
The team will use the final days in practice to polish its plays and further boost its chemistry, while helping Pasaol catch up the soonest possible time after missing the previous one-week training camp due to quarantine protocols.
The other member of the team in Karl Dehesa will also join the group once he clears protocols.
“In terms of effort, I really could not ask for anything more from the players during our first week of training, and they also did their best to build on that with our online training sessions,” said head coach Ronnie Magsanoc.
“Now it’s about bringing everything together and forming a team that we can be proud of, a team that can compete against the best in the world.”
The team will be leaving for Austria on Sunday for the May 26 to 30 event.
Gilas opens its campaign in Pool C with games against Qatar and Slovenia on opening day. After a one-day rest, the Filipinos resume their bid for a berth in the quarterfinals by taking on Dominican Republic and France on the 28th.
Slovenia and France are two of the top 10 3x3 teams in the world. Slovenia, led by top gun Simon Finzgar, is ranked no. 4, while France is at no. 10.
The Filipinos are at No. 20 ahead of Qatar (26) and Dominican Republic (33).
The top two teams from all four pools advance to the quarterfinals, with the top three finishers in the five-day meet earning berths to the Tokyo Olympics.
Already assured berths to the Olympiad are China, Russia, Serbia, and the host country.
As the team gears up for the competition, Magsanoc also lauded the work done by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) in making sure the 3x3 men’s squad get the training it needed despite the difficult times brought by the pandemic.
“The SBP did a tremendous job of collecting these talented players into one team so our job is to make sure we’ll have a cohesive unit,” said Magsanoc, also deputy coach of the Meralco Bolts.
“We thank the SBP for giving us a safe training environment here so we can devote all our focus on our preparation for the qualifiers. There have been challenges along the way, but we’re happy that the team is finally complete.”
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