Gilas 3×3 set for final stages of preparations for Fiba OQT
Gilas 3×3 team during training. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 is set to re-enter training camp on Saturday and head to the final stages of its preparations for the Fiba 3×3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Austria.
Joshua Munzon, Alvin Pasaol, CJ Perez, Moala Tautuaa, and alternates Santi Santillan and Karl Dehesa will head to Inspire Sports Academy for another training bubble before they depart for Graz for the OQT from May 26 to 30.
Joining the team in Calamba are practice players Tonino Gonzaga, Agosto Flor, and Malick Diouf giving Ronnie Magsanoc’s men a semblance of competition.
“We are looking to simulate the opposition that the Gilas 3×3 National Team will face in the OQT,” said Magsanoc. “We also want to give our national players the chance to scrimmage with different combinations.”
This will be the first time that Pasaol will be joining the team’s training camp as he didn’t clear the necessary health and safety protocols prior to entering Inspire.
Pasaol, nevertheless, is excited to rejoin his teammates for the final stretch of preparations.
“While they were in the bubble, I was doing my own workouts and doing the responsibilities needed so that when I enter the bubble I’m ready,” said Pasaol. “I’m confident that I can give everything in the remaining practices before the OQT.”
Gonzaga and Flor already helped train Gilas prior to the 2019 Southeast Asian Games while Diouf will be partaking in the preparations for the first time in his career.
Diouf previously played for Centro Escolar University but the 6-foot-10 center has since transferred to University of the Philippines.
