THIRDY Ravena saw this call-up coming.
Back in 2015, the Ateneo forward was a mere spectator to his Gilas kuyas as the Tab Baldwin-coached Philippine team went on to win the silver medal in the 2015 Fiba Asia Championship in Changsha, China.
"What a great honor to play for the country in the #FIBA2019 games. #DreamLang," tweeted the then-18-year-old.
Four years later, his words proved prophetic.
On Tuesday, Ravena was named one of the 12 men who will don the Team Pilipinas blue and whites for the all-important game against Qatar in the 2019 Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers.
And he couldn't be any more overwhelmed on how things panned out.
"It was all a dream," the 22-year-old wrote in a Facebook post.
"Four years ago, I was just a young kid watching my kuyas play in the Fiba 2015 World Championships [sic] on TV. Who knew that this would happen. This is all You, Lord. Thank you!"
Ravena will be joined by naturalized center Andray Blatche as well as Jayson Castro, June Mar Fajardo, Troy Rosario, Paul Lee, Marcio Lassiter, Gabe Norwood, Scottie Thompson, Poy Erram, Mark Barroca, and Japeth Aguilar in the squad.
The Philippines is in a precarious position in Group F with its 5-5 win-loss record, needing to sweep these next pair of road games to advance to the China Games in August.
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