MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Youth team may have to do without some of its vital cogs, but national coach Jamike Jarin expects his squad to stay competitive in two international tournaments next month.
Ateneo’s Thirdy Ravena, last year’s UAAP juniors MVP, and University of the Philippines guard Henry Asilum are among the players who may skip the country’s campaign in the Fiba Asia U-18 from Aug. 19 to 28 in Doha.
“We’ll know within a week or two, so we just wish for the best,” said Jarin, noting the tournament’s schedule conflict with the collegiate leagues. “But whoever is available, we’re going to be very competitive.”
Jarin, though, expects to field an intact Under-17 squad when it goes for a historic quest in the Fiba U17 Worlds from Aug. 8 to 16 in Dubai.
Just like the men’s squad Gilas Pilipinas, the U17 team defied the odds to finish second behind China in the Fiba Asia U16 Championship in Tehran last October to advance to the world stage for the first time.
“We’ll be coming in as the smallest (team),” Jarin said in Tuesday’s PSA Forum at Shakey’s Malate. “We plan to make the game faster, quicker and force our opponents to shoot from the outside. It will give us a us a better chance to be competitive.”
The young Nationals, led by Mike Nieto and Jolo Mendoza, got bracketed in the tough Group A with world powerhouse United States, Fiba Afica champion Angola and Fiba Europe third placer Greece.
“We had very good training for the boys in preparation for the World Championship,” said Jarin, adding that the team had trained in Los Angeles and Las Vegas for two weeks.