Gilas gears up for 2nd window of FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers

Sports

GILAS Pilipinas is forming a competitive roster for the upcoming second window of the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.

As part of a rigid preparation, Gilas has called up big man Justine Baltazar to be part of the pool that also includes a solid group of agile big men.

The Tim Cone coached-Gilas brought in Baltazar, the 6-foot-7 center of the Converge FiberXers in the PBA, due to the potential unavailability of twin towers Kai Sotto and Quentin Millora-Brown.

The Nationals will first take on New Zealand first on Feb. 26 before battling Australia on Mar. 1. Both games will be held at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Cone has reportedly confirmed that Millora-Brown will be sitting out the two matches. Sotto is stil recovering from an ACL injury but has already played for the Koshigaya Alphas in the Japan B. League where Millora-Brown is also playing for Chiba Jets. Gilas will also be missing shooter Jaime Malonzo in the two crucial games.

Baltazar was one of the nine players who showed up at the start of Gilas’ five-day training camp at Inspire Sports Academy in Laguna on Tuesday, Feb. 17. Also present were Dwight Ramos, Justin Brownlee, June Mar Fajardo, Scottie Thompson, CJ Perez, Chris Newsome, RJ Abarrientos, and Juan Gomez de Liano and Justine Baltazar.

AJ Edu, Kevin Quiambao, and Carl Tamayo will be joining the team before the team wraps up its training camp.(CCM)