Fajardo leads Gilas’ 20-man pool for 5th window of Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net

National team coach Yeng Guiao on Tuesday announced the 20-man pool for the fifth window of the Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers beginning later this month.

Guiao pulled out several surprises with the inclusion of young guns Ricci Rivero and Kai Sotto as well as old timers in LA Tenorio and Arwind Santos.

Bannering the pool are big men June Mar Fajardo and Greg Slaughter, who are making their return to the national team coming off injuries.

Andray Blatche was also excluded from the 20-man pool with Guiao going for Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle as his two choices to be the team’s naturalized player.

Veteran internationalists Jayson Castro, Gabe Norwood and Japeth Aguilar got another call-up along with Paul Lee and Beau Belga.

Completing the pool are Scottie Thompson, Matthew Wright, Alex Cabagnot, Troy Rosario and Marcio Lassiter, JP Erram and Ian Sangalang.

The Philippines host two games to begin the fifth window as it plays Kazakhstan on November 30 before taking on Iran on December 3.