Gilas Pilipinas names final 12 for Serbia Olympic qualifiers

By: Bong Lozada - Reporter / @BLozadaINQ - Inquirer.net | June 24,2021 - 03:56 PM

Gilas Pilipinas celebrates after beating South Korea again in the Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers in Clark.

MANILA, Philippines—Gilas Pilipinas remained virtually unchanged heading into the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Serbia.

The team that played in the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup Qualifiers will have another go-around in Belgrade. Francis Lopez was the final cut from the roster.

They fly out for Belgrade, Serbia Thursday.

LOOK: Gilas Pilipinas’ final roster for the Fiba OQT in Serbia starting next week. The national team flies for to Belgrade today. pic.twitter.com/apfmsvjWFV

— INQUIRER Sports (@INQUIRERSports) June 24, 2021

Breakout star Dwight Ramos leads the 12-man roster alongside naturalized center Ange Kouame and team captain Isaac Go.

Kai Sotto joins Kouame in the tall center rotation with bigs Geo Chiu, Carl Tamayo, Justine Baltazar, and Will Navarro also in the frontcourt.

Mike Nieto, SJ Belangel, RJ Abbarientos, and Jordan Heading round out the team.

Javi Gomez de Liaño did not make the OQT lineup after sustaining a quad injury during one of the team’s practice session in the Clark bubble while Jaydee Tungcab was excluded after the national team prioritized frontcourt height.

Tungcab is listed at 6-foot-4 but plays in the wing positions.

The Philippines is in Group A along host nation Serbia and the Dominican Republic.

Only the top two teams of each group will advance to the knockout stages of the Serbian leg of OQT where they will then duke it out for the lone Olympic spot.