THIRDY Ravena, Rey Suerte, Matt Nieto, and Allyn Bulanadi are back with Gilas Pilipinas as the national team begins preparations for the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup in Indonesia next month.
Ravena, who plays for San-En NeoPhoenix in the Japan B.League, rejoins the national team after last representing the Philippines in the first window of the qualifiers in February 2020.
He joins the 2019 Gilas draftees Suerte, Nieto, and Bulanadi, who were all injured in the buildup for the third window in June.
Nineteen players have entered Inspire Sports Academy on Saturday, all testing negative for COVID-19.
The quartet joins the core of the squad that competed in the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade led by naturalized center Ange Kouame, Dwight Ramos, and Justine Baltazar.
Also part of the pool are Isaac Go, Mike Nieto, Jordan Heading, William Navarro, SJ Belangel, RJ Abarrientos, Carl Tamayo, and Geo Chiu.
Dave Ildefonso, Jaydee Tungcab, Kemark Carino, and Tzaddy Rangel round up the invitees as they all return to national team duty.
Gilas is only awaiting the arrival of 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto to complete the pool of players that will fight for spots to the Philippines team in the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup from August 16 to 28.
This, however, remains in limbo due to the surge of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia, putting the staging of the event in peril.
Out of the pool are brothers Juan and Javi Gomez de Liano, who signed with B.League second division clubs Earthfriends Tokyo Z and Ibaraki Robots, respectively, and new Overtime Elite League signee Lebron Lopez.
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