The Cebuano trio of Joshua Sinclair, Joshua Flores and John Bryle Bahio are set to raise Cebu’s banner up high once again as they play for Batang Gilas in the 2016 Fiba Asia Under-18 Championship on July 22 to 31 at the Twelve Thousand People Sport Hall in Tehran, Iran.
Much will be at stake in this competition as the top three teams will earn berths to the 2017 Fiba Under-19 World Championship. And of the three former standouts of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi), much will be expected from Fil-Australian forward Joshua Sinclair, who has since gained national acclaim since leading the Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles to the national high school championship back in 2014.
Not long after, he committed to National University and has donned the national team’s jersey in the Fiba 3×3 Manila Masters, the Fiba 3×3 Under-18 World Championships and the 2016 Seaba Under-18 Championship. In an exclusive interview with Cebu Daily News, the 18-year-old expressed his readiness to combat the best young basketball talents across Asia.
“I feel as if I’m the best I’ve ever been, so I’m as prepared as I’ll ever be. As for the team, we have a common goal, and have been working towards that for months now. We aren’t about individual accolades or stats. We want to go in and get the championship as a team. I know that my teammates will do anything to win this for the country,” said the 6-foot-5 cager who averaged a near double-double of almost 14 points and 9.5 rebounds per game in the Seaba tilt.
“I feel that we’ve polished our skills a little as individuals to help add to the team as a whole. We’re more cohesive as a unit than we were before. I feel that we will be really competitive,” Sinclair gamely quipped.
Completing the rest of the team are Jolo Mendoza, Gian Mamuyac, Jonas Tibayan, Harvey Pagsanjan, AJ Madriga, Rendell Lee, Fran Yu, Ken Mark Carino and JV Gallego. They open their campaign against Chinese Taipei on the 22nd before taking on Iraq, China, Thailand and India in the succeeding days.
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