Guiao-led PH five leave for Tehran

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

The Philippine men’s basketball team leaves for Tehran, Iran, on Monday night to begin its campaign in the fourth window of the Fiba World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers.

The Nationals face Iran on Thursday night at Azady Gym, just 10 days after holding their first practice session.

Yeng Guiao, who returned as national team coach in the Asian Games where he steered the country to a fifth-place finish, will call the shots anew.

It was only less than two weeks ago when Guiao named his 16-man pool for the qualifiers.

Half of the pool is composed of the Asiad core—Stanley Pringle, Christian Standhardinger, Paul Lee, Gabe Norwood, Beau Belga, JP Erram, Raymond Almazan and Asi Taulava.

The other eight are Scottie Thompson, Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar of Barangay Ginebra, Marcio Lassiter and Alex Cabagnot of San Miguel Beer, Ian Sangalang of Magnolia, Matthew Wright of Phoenix and Allein Maliksi of Blackwater.

Guiao, who still held practice Monday morning, had said he will bare the final 12-man roster on the eve of the game against Iran.

After taking on the Iranians, who will be led by former NBA center Hamed Haddadi, the Filipinos clash with Qatar on Sept. 17 for a closed-door encounter at Smart Araneta Coliseum. —MARK GIONGCO, INQUIRER.NET