GILAS Pilipinas coach Tim Cone clarified that Justin Arana is being included in a big pool of about 30 players for the 2026 Asian Games, but clarified that nothing is cast in stone as far as his participation is concerned.
Cone on Sunday said Arana is being included in Gilas' ‘long list’ to be submitted to the Asian Games organizing committee, part of the procedures in regional multisport events such as Asiad and the Southeast Asian Games.
READ Justin Arana set for Gilas call-up for Asiad
“We needed a long list for the Asian Games so we put a long list together. It's a list of about 30 names,” said Cone. “Arana is part of that list obviously.”
Cone said one of the players that is also on that long list is Mike Phillips, who was recently classified as a local by FIBA.
Cone made it clear that the players inserted in the ‘long list’ do not automatically become part of the original Gilas pool for FIBA competitions including the next window for the World Cup qualifiers.
“This has nothing to do with the windows at this point. This is just strictly for the Asian Games,” said Cone.
Cone said they are taking a cue from their experience in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China where they had problems selecting the final roster when some of the players on the long list were declared ineligible.
Gilas went on to win the gold despite the challenges in putting together the final line-up.
“We don't know the eligibility rules that are going to happen. Last (Asian Games), we had a long list put together and there were players out there that didn't get eligible," said the concurrent Ginebra coach.
"Last Asian Games, we scrambled for players at the very end because the list wasn't a representative of what the eligibility rules were. So we made a long list [this time] hoping that these guys will be eligible and we will have a bigger pool to pick from."
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