After an almost month-long camp inside Inspire Sports Academy, SMART Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 will leave for Graz, Austria tonight at 11:55PM.
Head coach Ronnie Magsanoc will lead the six-man Philippine delegation to the 2021 FIBA 3×3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament set from May 26 to 30.
The Gilas 3×3 pool are top Filipino 3×3 player Joshua Munzon, no. 2 Alvin Pasaol, no. 8 Santi Santillan, and 31st Southeast Asian Games gold medalists CJ Perez and Moala Tautuaa. Only four players will be lined up for the five-day meet.
No. 6 Karl Dehesa will not make the trip as he is still completing a 14-day quarantine due to “health and safety protocols.”
Photo by SBP
After months of online training, Munzon, Perez, Tautuaa, Santillan, and Dehesa entered the Calambubble last May 1 before momentarily leaving camp last May 10 to fix their papers. Pasaol was not able to join the team due to “health and safety protocols.”
Munzon, Perez, Tautuaa, and Santillan re-entered the Calambubble early this week along with Pasaol to compete in scrimmages with practice players Malick Diouf, Jason Brickman, Tonino Gonzaga, and Greg Flor.
Also helping out Magsanoc were Mo Gingerich and Benj Palarca.
Gilas 3×3 is slotted in Group C along with Slovenia, France, Qatar, and the Dominican Republic.
The Philippines takes on Slovenia and Qatar on the 26th before facing France and the Dominican Republic on the 28th. The top two teams in the four groups will advance to the knockout stage on May 30.
The top three teams will advance to the Tokyo Olympics.
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