Veteran Thais biggest threat to Gilas cadets’ gold medal bid
Gilas Cadets in Thailand. Photo from Gilas cadet assistant coach Josh Reyes’ Instagram account.
Nash Racela sees Thailand as the biggest threat to the Gilas cadets’ gold medal campaign in the 2016 SEABA Cup.
Compared to the Gilas Cadets composed of the top amateur players in the country, the Thais will be led by players already suiting up in the pro leagues.
“Thailand will be tough being the host and having veteran players. They have a new coach and I heard they have been training for three months and went to the States. Talagang pinaghandaan nila ito,” he said. “Most of their players are batchmates pa ni Ranidel (de Ocampo), so these are veteran players who are playing in the ABL.”
The Thai squad will be bannered by seasoned veterans Attaporn Lertmalaiporn, Chanachon Klahan, and Danai Kongkum, all seeing action for Hi-Tech Bangkok City in the ASEAN Basketball League.
The history between the two talented teams is not lost on Racela.
“It’s almost the same team that almost beat us last year sa SEA Games and SEABA when coach Tab (Baldwin) was handling the team. We had three months of preparation then, and we had Marcus Douthit, Kiefer Ravena, and Ray Parks then.”
But despite the glaring differences in preparation, the whole team is optimistic that the squad’s talent will eventually overpower the competition as the Gilas cadets eye to defend the throne.
“I think this is a young team,” he said. “The very definition that I have for them is their willing to sacrifice for flag and country. They’ve been informed about the tournament in less than a month and trained right away, they volunteered, practiced almost every day. Even with a three week preparation that we had, andyan sila willing to sacrifice.”
PBA rookies Rosario and Almond Vosotros lead the cadets, who also has collegiate stars Mac Belo, Kevin Ferrer, and Jiovani Jalalon in the roster along with the FEU Tamaraw core of Mike Tolomia, Roger Pogoy, Raymar Jose, Russel Escoto, and Ken Holmqvist, Ateneo shooter Von Pessumal, and Chiang Kai Shek forward Jonas Tibayan.
