Gilas arrives in Japan ahead of Fiba World Cup qualifier

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Gilas Pilipinas on Tuesday arrived in Tokyo, Japan for the Fiba World Cup qualifying.

National team coach Chot Reyes snapped a photo of the squad on his Instagram account. Gilas takes on Japan on Friday.

“Touchdown Tokyo #gilasWCQ,” he wrote.

Touchdown Tokyo #gilasWCQ

A post shared by Chot Reyes (@coachot) on Nov 20, 2017 at 9:36pm PST

Naturalized center Andray Blatche, four-time PBA Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo, and lead guard Jayson Castro lead the 15-man pool.

Joining the three are veteran national team members Gabe Norwood, Calvin Abueva, and Japeth Aguilar, together with Raymond Almazan, Allein Maliksi, Troy Rosario, Kevin Alas, sophomores Roger Pogoy, Matthew Wright, Mac Belo, and Carl Bryan Cruz, and rookie Kiefer Ravena.

Terrence Romeo missed the trip due to a knee injury.

The duel between Gilas and Japan will be held at Komazawa Olympic Park General Sports Gymnasium in Tokyo.

The team, then, flies back home to host Chinese Taipei on Nov. 27 at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Reyes is expected to name the final 12-man roster on Thursday.