Gilas eyes Estonia tilt; Douthit bids adieu

GILAS Pilipinas’ training camp in Turkey has been shelved because of visa problems, but the Nationals are still hoping to play in a pocket tournament in Estonia from Aug. 21 before plunging into the Jones Cup later in the month.

The Nationals couldn’t obtain visas for Istanbul and had to shelve a scheduled one-week camp there, leaving the Estonia tournament as the only European option.

Gilas also confirmed its participation in the Jones Cup in Chinese Taipei starting Aug. 29. It marks the first time the Philippines will play there since 2012, when it ruled the event and LA Tenorio, who is absent from the pool this time, won the MVP award.

Meanwhile, Marcus Douthit, the country’s naturalized player since the Gilas Pilipinas program started four years ago, has officially bid the team farewell.

“I just want to thank everyone for accepting me to represent such a great country I will always be thankful!!! PUSO,” Douthit posted on his account @douthitmarcus, which sparked a long Twitter thread.

“An amazing ride these last 4 years my brother!! douthitmarcus thank you for all you’ve done for,” said former Gilas skipper Jimmy Alapag (@jalapag3).

Douthit was the naturalized player for Gilas when it finished second to Iran in the Fiba Asia Championship the country hosted in 2013.

He lost his spot when Andray Blatche was naturalized the following year to play in the World Cup in Spain, where the Filipinos pushed world powers Croatia, Argentina and Greece to the limit and beat Senegal in overtime.

Gilas has also made it known that it will work on the naturalization papers of Filipino-Tongan Moala Tautuaa, who joined practices of the current pool recently.

Tautuaa has declared himself available for the Aug. 23 PBA Draft and will go down as the first overall pick. But he, like Globalport’s Stanley Pringle, last year’s top choice, cannot represent the country in Fiba events because they failed to choose a country to represent when they were 16.

The Philippines will be coming into the Jones Cup with a lot of positive memories after winning the 2012 edition at the expense of the powerhouse United States.

Tenorio played his best game of that tournament against the Americans.

The Estonia event will feature the host country, Finland, Iceland and the Filipinos, who are hoping to play against bigger, talented foes.

Coach Tab Baldwin is preparing the Nationals for the Fiba Asia Championship slated in Changsha City in China’s Hunan province where only the champion will book a ticket to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Brazil.