GILAS PILIPINAS: FINAL LINE UP FOR THE 2019 FIBA WORLD CUP ANNOUNCED

The final line up of the Gilas Pilipinas for the 2019 World Cup was announced yesterday after their last tune up match against the Adelaide 69ers of Australia. Coach Yeng Guiao  choose a mix of veterans and young blood to comprise the 12 players going to Foshan, China this week.

Only 5 holdovers from the 2014 World Cup team was picked - naturalized player Andray Blatche, Gabe Norwood, PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar and Paul Lee.

Also making the cut are players from the World Cup Qualifiers Raymond Almazan, Mark Barroca, Troy Rosario, Roger Pogoy and the comebacking Kiefer Ravena, whose suspension ended over the weekend. Two PBA rookies will wlso be debuting in the world cup - Robert Bolick and CJ Perez.

Our Gilas Pilipinas line-up for the 2019 FIBA World Cup is COMPLETE! 🇵🇭 #SBP #GilasPilipinas #LabanPilipinas #ParaSaBayan #PilipinasGotGame #FIBAWC pic.twitter.com/rtqXbDppbr

— SBP (@officialSBPinc) August 25, 2019

The Philippines will be part of Group D and will play the group stage at the International Sports and Cultural Arena in Foshan, China. The schedule of Gilas for the group stage is in the tweet below and will be shown live in ESPN 5:

Here’s the official game schedule of GILAS PILIPINAS for the upcoming FIBA WORLD CUP 2019 Group D against Italy, Serbia & Angola. GAME ON!! 🇵🇭👊🏻 #LabanPilipinas #PUSO #PilipinasGotGame #FIBAWC2019 pic.twitter.com/vUsBxC1j3s

— KuwentongGilas (@KuwentongGilas) August 19, 2019

GILAS PILIPINAS : 12 MAN LINE UP FOR 2019 WORLD CUP QUALIFIER VS JAPAN REVEALED

The 12 man line up of Gilas Pilipinas that will go up against Japan for the 1st game of the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifier was announced this morning by Coach Chot Reyes via a live video streamed in the Kwentong Gilas Facebook page.

The 12 men who will be playing tomorrow are:

Jayson Castro
Kevin Alas
Kiefer Ravena
Roger Pogoy
Matthew Wright
Allein Maliksi
Calvin Abueva
Gabe Norwood
Troy Rosario
Japeth Aguilar
June Mar Fajardo
Andray Blatche

Here is the video posted in Facebook:

Gilas Cadets Mac Belo and Carl Bryan Cruz and Raymond Almazan will sit out in tomorrow's game.

The line up for Monday's game vs Chinese Taipei in Manila can still change depending on the needs of the team.

Goodluck Gilas!

GILAS PILIPINAS : 23 MAN POOL FOR THE 2019 FIBA WORLD CUP QUALIFIER REVEALED

Just a few hours after their first practice, the 23 man pool of Gilas Pilipinas for the Asian qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA World Cup was revealed in a post in the official website of FIBA.

The line up is a mix of veterans and cadets with 11 of the 12 Gilas players who joined the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup making it to the list, which may help the team chemistry having played which each other in a FIBA tourament already. Only 2017 PBA Rookie Draft first pick Christian Standhardinger was omitted in the list mainly because of his commitment to his club team in the ASEAN Basketball League, which is in the country as well to have some tune up matches against some PBA teams.

Leading the team are 4 time PBA Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo and 2 time Asia's Best Point Guard Jayson Castro. The 23 man pool is as follows (pic is from the same post in the FIBA website) :

Notable names is the list includes Mac Belo and Russell Escoto who are both coming from injuries, Kevin Alas who was part of the cadets team before and was named as reserve in Gilas 2.0 and Kiefer Ravena - the only non-PBA player in the roster technically since he was just drafted last week. Andray Blatche, who was sent home by his team in the CBA due to injury will be our naturalized player. I do hope that he has recuperated from his injury and is in good shape.

It is just comforting to see a pool of familiar names with a mix of youth and veterans. Coming from limbo where Filipino fans do not know who will play and will they be allowed to play, at least now, it is clear - we have a team that will compete. Only having three weeks to prepare and Andray Blatche coming in on November 12, I hope this will be enough for us to get the 2 wins in this playing window.

GILAS PILIPINAS : INITIAL POOL FOR THE 2019 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS REVEALED BY COACH CHOT

A day after the confusing events regarding the PBA commissioner, oue team, the Gilas Pilipinas finally started its preparation in the upcoming Asian qualifier for the 2019 FIBA Wotld Cup in China.

As committed by the governors of the PBA teams, they will be supportive of the national team and will be releasing their players to the pool. For this practice 13 players attended from various PBA team.

Leading the group are 4 time PBA Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel Beermen and 2-time best point guard in Asia Jayson Castro of Talk N Text Katropa. Also present are Gabe Norwood and Raymond Almazan of Rain or Shine, Alein Maliksi and Mac Belo of Blackwater Elite, Troy Rosario and RR Pogoy of TNT Katropa, Matthew Wright of Phoenix Fuelmasters, Calvin Abueva and Carl Bryan Cruz of Alaska Aces and Japhet Aguilar of Barangay Ginebra. Star Hotshot's Jio Jalalon also attended but did not join the drills.

Coach Chot Reyes also tweeted the list of players who attended tonight plus some more players that will be joining:

Jayson,Pogs,Matt,Allein,Gabe, Calvin,CBC,Mac,Troy, Mond, Jap, JMF practiced today. Jio came but is out (LCL).TR & KR still OOT. AB on d 12th

— Chot Reyes (@coachot) November 3, 2017

Apparently, KR is Kiefer Ravena who I think is currently on vacation (he posted a picture of sunset and palm trees in his Twitter account) and TR is Terence Romeo who is in the Middle East until November 4 for a brand he is endorsing. AB is I think Andray Blatche who is surprisingly playing after news that he is injured.

Counting all the players mentioned, there just 16 players, which is still 8 short of the required 24 man pool. As reported, deadline to submit the 24 man line up will be on Tuesdy, November 7.

This is such a good development since at least now, we have an initial line up since we have not seen names before today. This is a good sign that despite what is happening on our professional league, the national team pool is still rich in talent. Despite the other teams having prepared earlier than our team, I am still optimistic that we will be able to contend despite only having 3 weeks of preparation. This line up is almost the same guys who trained for the FIBA Asia Cup and the SEA Games and they already know the system.

Gilas Pilipinas will start their campaign thru a game against Japan on November 24 in Tokyo and will go back home and host Chinese Taipei in Araneta Coliseum on November 27.

2017 FIBA ASIA CHAMPIONS CUP : GROUP PHASE SCHEDULE

As we are all waiting for the final line up of our very own Chooks To Go Pilipinas team, here is the group phase schedule of the FIBA Asia Champions Cup to be held in Chenzhou, China starting next week, September 22, 2017.

Chooks To Go Pilipinas is in Group A with BC Astana of Kazakhstan, Mono Vampire of Thailand, Petrochimi of Iran and Sarreyet Ramallah of Palestine.

Here is the group phase schedule as posted in the FIBA Asia Champions Cup Twitter account :

📆 Check out 👀 the #FIBAAsiaCC 2017 games & schedule 🏀🏆

 

📖 https://t.co/vMkAhGKSXa

🗓 https://t.co/4G8JVcUPMr pic.twitter.com/K2g2v7a4qS

— #FIBAAsiaCC (@FIBAAsiaCC) September 8, 2017

Good luck Chooks To Go Pilipinas! #LabanPilipinas

2017 FIBA ASIA CHAMPIONS CUP : ISAIAH AUSTIN ARRIVES IN MANILA TO REINFORCE CHOOKS TO GO PILIPINAS

Isaiah Austin has arrived in Manila to reinforce the Chooks To Go Pilipinas Team in the 2017 FIBA Asia Champions Cup in Chenzhou, China starting on September 22.

Austin is a 23 year old 7'1" center from California, USA. He applied for the 2014 NBA draft and was one of the prized prospect that year. Unofrtunately, he was diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome and had to withdraw from the draft. He recently played for the Guangxi Rhinos. He brings with him not just height and length but also an agile, athletic center with perimeter and outside shooting.

He is also being considered as a candidate for naturalization to be part of the Gilas Pilipinas team. He really fits the guy that we need - an athletic young big man that can adapt with the dribble drive offense that Coach Chot Reyes is running. This most probably be his acid test. If he performs well, there will be a big possibility that he will be naturalized.

He was welcomed in this post from Coach Chot Reyes' Twitter page:

Welcome to Manila @IsaiahAustin ! See you in a bit pic.twitter.com/PUyEbOXbiu

— Chot Reyes (@coachot) September 12, 2017

Welcome to the Philippines Isaiah!

2017 FIBA ASIA CHAMPIONS CUP : CHOOKS TO GO PILIPINAS WILL PLAY AS A WILDCARD

It looks like Thailand's Mono Vampire is not the only Southeast Asian team that will join the 2017 FIBA Asia Champions Cup in Chenzou, China on September 22 - 30, 2017.

After a successful partnership with Gilas Pilipinas in the Jones Cup, 2017 FIBA Asia Cup and the 2017 Southeast Asian Games; Chooks to Go is again partnering with SBP to send a team - Chooks to Go Pilipinas to this tournament as well.

It was first announced by Coach Chot Reyes in his Twitter page with this post:

Breaking: Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas joins @FIBAAsiaCC. Games will be shown @TV5manila & @Sports5PH

— Chot Reyes (@coachot) September 5, 2017

It was confirmed by this article posted in the official website of the 2017 FIBA Asia Champion's Cup. Apparently, the Japan team SunRockers Shibuya withdrew due to the conflicting schedule with the B.League. Thus, FIBA awarded the wildcard to the Philippines.

The Chooks To Go Pilipinas team will be coached by none other than Coach Chot Reyes and Coach Jong Uichico as his deputy. Confirmed part of the team are Gilas players Fil-German Christian Standhardinger, Kiefer Ravena and Rayray Parks. It is also reported that Reymar Jose, Kobe Paras (if allowed by his college team), Jeron Teng, UP Maroons Jett Manuel and Bright Akhuetie will also join the team.

It is also not clear if PBA will also be allowing the Gilas Cadets to join the team, as this is not a national team tournament.

The team will be in Group A with BC Astana of Kazakhstan, Mono Vampire of Thailand, Petrochimi of Iran and Sarreyet Ramallah of Palestine.

The last time Philippines joined the FIBA Champions Cup was in 2011 when Smart Gilas Pilipinas hosted the other teams in the tournament. The team ended in 4th place that year.

Good Luck Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas! #LabanPilipinas

FIBA ASIA CUP 2017 : GILAS PILIPINAS SWEEPS GROUP B AS MORE THAN 2000 FILIPINOS CHEER ON

Gilas Pilipinas went on to sweep Group A of the FIBA Asia Cup 2017 in Beirut, Lebanon by beating Qatar, 80 - 74. With June Mar Fajardo still injured and Christian Standhardinger also sitting out due to a bad case of stiff neck, the Philippines had to rely on the sweet shooting of Matthew Right who finished with 25 points which included 7 three pointers.

Calvin Abueva also slipped in the second quarter and was not able to come back, our big guys having early foul trouble and Terrence Romeo was also misfiring, Gilas Pilipinas was able to play good team ball and had great performances from Gabe Norwood and Carl Bryan Cruz.

But what made this win special is that more than 15 bus fulls of Filipinos came out to support the team and the stadium felt like homecourt for the team. It is really amazing how Filipinos support Gilas where ever they play. They also get a chance to meet their idols after the game.

More than 2,000 Filipinos in Beirut to meet the Gilas Pilipinas: https://t.co/dfQQEM8F7X 😵🇵🇭🎉 #FIBAAsiaCup2017 pic.twitter.com/wWKj5xlkSX

— FIBA (@FIBA) August 13, 2017

With this win, Gilas Pilipinas advances automatically to the the quarterfinals, joining other top teams from the other groups - Australia, New Zealand and Iran. They will be battling against the winner of the game tonight between Korea and Japan. Whoever wins will definitely be a challenge for Gilas since both Korea has been a constant antagonist of Gilas while Japan gave us a good fight in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championships.

With 3 days rest, the Filipinos will definitely prepare hard for the game on Wednesday. Surely, Standhardinger and Abueva will be back to play and all are playing for June Mar to be able to play as well.

Laban Pilipinas!

BASKETBALL : METTA WORLD PEACE IN MANILA

Basketball icon Metta World Peace (formerly known as Ron Artest) has arrived in Manila today, as posted in his Twitter account:

Just arrived in Manila .. Love the Filipino people. Halo halo time!!! pic.twitter.com/ASw2lAU6s2

— Metta World Peace (@MettaWorldPeace) August 12, 2017

This is his first time in the Philippines. And with him is a revelation that will make Filipino fans happy. According to an article in Spin.ph, he revealed that his half Filipino son, Jeron Artest has applied for a Philippine passport in the hopes of making it to the national team Gilas Pilipinas someday.

And based on his latest post, Metta World Peace is now eating Filipino comfort food at Manams in Greenbelt.

Comfort Filipino food pic.twitter.com/udDTaZYuBw

— Metta World Peace (@MettaWorldPeace) August 12, 2017

Welcome to the Philippines Metta World Peace!

ALAB PILIPINAS : JIMMY ALAPAG NAMED AS THE NEW HEAD COACH

Alab Pilipinas looks like it is really serious to bring back the ASEAN Basketball League Crown to the Philippines. Alab announced that they are getting the services of the Mighty Mouse and Gilas Pilipinas legend and now assistant coach Jimmy Alapag to be their head coach in the upcoming tournaments including the new season of ABL.

Bagong laban, bagong #pALABan! ALAB PILIPINAS welcomes new Head Coach JIMMY "The Mighty Mouse" ALAPAG! 🔥🔥🔥 Official signing in a bit! pic.twitter.com/zwGWzxn8DZ

— Alab Pilipinas (@AlabPilipinas) August 12, 2017

The announcement came after a few teasers in their official Twitter and Facebook pages and even coined him as the Fire Starter and the new pALABan and a known leader in the court. Fans has speculated that it is Alapag and was only confirmed today when the contract signing was also aired lived in their Facebook page.

Last season's coach Mac Cuan, who lead the team to a semi-finals finish in their maiden season will still be in the coaching staff. I am excited to know who will compose the new Alab Pilipinas team after some of their players have been signed by PBA teams. I really hope the team gets stronger and they can win the championship next season.

Congrats Alab Pilipinas and Jimmy Alapag! I hope this will start a new winning partnership in the ABL.

FIBA ASIA CUP 2017 : GILAS PILIPINAS WINS OVER IRAQ, GETS SURE QUARTERFINAL SLOT

Gilas Pilipinas got over a slow first half and came back guns ablaze in the third quarter to seal the win against the tough Iraq team, 84 - 68 at the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup in Beirut, Lebanon.

After a close first half which ended at 32-31 in favor of Gilas, the Filipinos broke the game open on the 26-9 scoring run in the 3rd quarter to seal the game. The duo of Terrence Romeo and Christian Standhardinger provided crucial runs in the said quarter to help the Gilas squad to lead as much as more than 20 points and never look back from there. Romeo finished with 17 points and Standhardinger with 16 points, topscoring for the Philippines.

With this win, the Philippines is now sure of the top seed in Group B irregardless of the result of the match against Qatar on Sunday. This means that the Gilas Pilipinas will avoid going against Australia and New Zealand which is expected to top their respective groups.

Most probably, the Philippines will face the winner between Japan and Korea or Lebanon in the quarterfinals.

Another great win for Gilas Pilipinas! #LabanPilipinas

TEAM PILIPINAS: 3 GREAT WINS FOR A GREAT SPORTS NIGHT

Good things indeed come in threes.

Filipino sports fans was in for a treat tonight - with not one, not two but three great wins tonight from 3 different Philippine teams in 3 different sports.

The first win was scored by the Philippine National Women's Volleyball team when they sweep their first group match versus Hong Kong in the AVC Senior Women's Volleyball Championship at the Alonte Sports Arena in Binan, Laguna. The Filipinas had a tentative start but never looked back once they got the momentum. They beat the HK ladies via a 25-21, 25-16, 25-17 tally.

FINAL: PHI starts strong, sweeps HK, 25-21, 25-16, 25-17.

Catch #AVCWomensSCH: Philippines🇵🇭 vs Hong Kong🇭🇰 NOW AIRING on S+A! pic.twitter.com/8mJgoeGIuF

— ABS-CBN Sports (@abscbnsports) August 9, 2017

The team was led by Alyssa Valdez with 14 points and Jaja Santiago with 13 points. The next assignment of the girls will be Kazakhstan on Friday.

The next win was from Gilas Pilipinas who also opened their campaign in the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup in Beirut, Lebanon. In their first group stage match, they were able to get an upset win over defending champion China, 96-87.

The Philippines 🇵🇭 fight off a big comeback from China 🇨🇳 to open their #FIBAAsiaCup2017 campaign

📊 https://t.co/zbXwbsAnpH pic.twitter.com/t3GUKM644w

— FIBA (@FIBA) August 9, 2017

Gilas led most of the game, with China almost pulling off their come from behind surge in the fourth quarter, even getting the lead in the last quarter. But Gilas was able to hold on and was able to clinch the win. Terrence Romeo topscorred with 26 points, Japeth Aguilar has 5 blocked shots and Gabe Norwood coming up with 3 steals and 3 blocks. Here are the highlights of the game from FIBA's official YouTube channel:

Next game will be against WABA dark horse Iraq on Friday night.

To cap off this streak, PFL's Ceres Negros FC was declared as the ASEAN Zone Champion at the 2017 AFC Cup in front of their home crowd in Bacolod City.  Ceres Negros won over Home United FC at Bacolod with a score of 2-0 and a 3-2 win on aggregate. OJ Porteria started with an early goal at 2' time. The second goal was from a penalty kick from Manny Ott.

👑 Congratulations to the #AFCCup2017 ASEAN Zone champions @CeresNegrosFC! pic.twitter.com/HmP46npXMD

— AFC Cup (@AFCCup) August 9, 2017

This is the farthest a Filipino team got to since the start of the tournament. They will face FC Istikol on August 22.

Congrats to all the Filipino atheletes! #LabanPilipinas

FIBA ASIA CUP 2016 : GILAS PILIPINAS GAMES SCHEDULE

Gilas Pilipinas once again will try to win the elusive Asia crown after two consecutive runner up finishes in the 2013 and 2015 editions. This year's competition will take place in Beirut, Lebanon from August 8 to 20, 2017. The Philippines last won the Asian title in 1985 - 32 years ago.

For the group stage, the Philippines was drawn in the so-called "Group of Death" - Group B. Also in this group are defending champion China, who defeated us in the finals in Wuhan in 2015; Gulf champion Qatar and WABA Championship dark horse Iraq.

The Philippines will be playing without naturalized player  Andray Blatche who suited up for Gilas in the 2014 World Cup, 2015 FIBA Asia Championship and 2017 SEABA tournament. The Gilas roster includes:

Jayson Castro
Terrence Romeo
Jio Jalalon
Carl Bryan Cruz
Roger Pogoy
Matthew Wright
Calvin Abueva
Gabe Norwood
Raymond Almazan
Japeth Aguilar
June Mar Fajardo
Christian Standhardinger

Recently, June Mar Fajardo might also be out of the competition due to a calf muscle injury. He traveled with the team to Lebanon but not sure if he will be playing.

The schedule for games and telecast for the group stage are as follows:

August 9 vs China - 6:30 PM LIVE on TV5, Aksyon TV and on www.sports5.ph/live
August 11 vs Iraq - 9:00 PM LIVE on TV5, Aksyon TV and on www.sports5.ph/live
August 13 vs Qatar - 9:00 PM LIVE on www.sports5.ph/live (Delayed telecast on TV5 at 10:00 PM)

Let's support Gila Pilipinas!

GILAS PILIPINAS: JUNE MAR WILL SIT OUT FIBA ASIA CUP DUE TO INJURY

Another unexpected blow to the Gilas Pilipinas campaign was all over Twitter world today. It was announced this afternoon that June Mar Fajardo might miss out on the Gilas campaign at the FIBA Asia Cup after injuring his calf during the San Miguel - Talk N Text game last Wednesday.

The 3 time and reigning PBA MVP apparently has a strained right calf muscle and will be out for at least a couple of weeks. It was also reported that June Mar will still travel with the team to Lebanon to observe on the playing style of the other countries, maybe for preparation for the World Cup qualifiers which will start before the year ends.

Here is the medical certificate which was given to the media by the PBA Commissioner:

Copy June Mar Fajardo's medical report (distributed by Comm. Narvasa). The Kraken will miss the 2017 FIBA-Asia Cup | @abscbnsports pic.twitter.com/83kVBxP7xl

— Paul Kennedy Lintag (@paullintag8) August 4, 2017

Gilas coach Chot Reyes then posted this in his Twitter account:

As the size gets smaller & the number dwindles, the fight grows bigger as the heart expands even more. #💪🇵🇭❤️

— Chot Reyes (@coachot) August 4, 2017

Another Gilas player was also reported to be injured. Returning Gilas defense specialist Gabe Norwood was also reported to be injured and will also be out of the FIBA Asia campaign. In his Twitter account, Gabe posted this:

I'm hurt?

— Gabe Norwood (@GNorwood5) August 4, 2017

He was then quick to clarify that he is not hurt and will play in FIBA Asia Cup.

I'm not hurt

— Gabe Norwood (@GNorwood5) August 4, 2017

Given all of what has happened, with the limited preparation that we have, I am tempering my expectations of our placing in this tournament. But who knows? We might still pull off some surprise wins.

But one thing is for sure, I am still supporting Gilas Pilipinas. Puso!

GILAS PILIPINAS: LOOK WHO SHOWED UP IN THE GILAS PRACTICE

Tonight is the first training day of the Gilas Pilipinas team for the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup. Surprisingly, a familiar face showed up. It is not the players but a former guide of our region basketball rival - it is former Thailand National Basketball Team head coach Tim Lewis.

Thailand's SEABA head coach, Tim Lewis is now part of the Gilas Pilipinas coaching staff 🇵🇭 pic.twitter.com/1Pzgj53Gpa

— Sports5 (@Sports5PH) July 27, 2017

Lewis was the coach of the Thailand NT since 2016 and was the coach when Gilas faced them during the SEABA tournament here in Manila. According to the news, after Thailand took home the bronze in that tournament, Lewis went back home for vacation. When he came back to Thailand, he was informed that he was going to be fired due to the team's performance. This came as a surprise to him and look where he is now - in the stable with the regional champions.

This can be an advantage to the SEA Games team, Since they will be facing Thailand in their first game on August 20, they might not have Christian Standhardinger and Carl Bryan Cruz since they are also in the FIBA Asia Cup line up which will only end on the same day. Though we are undermanned, the familiarity of Tim Lewis with the Thailand team will come in handy.

GILAS PILIPINAS: LINE UP FOR THE 2017 FIBA ASIA CUP REVEALED

The line up of the Gilas Pilipinas for the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup 2017 has been revealed shortly after the deadline last Tuesday night. Coach Chot Reyes posted this tweet in his account :

12 men; 12 practices; hopefully for 12 days in Beirut #LabanPilipinasPuso pic.twitter.com/AIrfSKO2GV

— Chot Reyes (@coachot) July 25, 2017

The line up include Gilas veterans Calvin Abueva, Japeth Aguilar, June Mar Fajardo, Terrence Romeo, Raymond Almazan and reigning best point guard in Asia Jayson Castro. Making a comeback for Gilas is our defense specialist - Gabe Norwood.

Also making the line up are Gilas cadets from the SEABA champion team RR Pogoy, Matthew Wright and Jio Jalalon. Making his first seniors mens team appearance is cadet Carl Bryan Cruz. Our naturalized player for this tournament is Fil-German Christian Standhardinger who impressed us in his Jones Cup performance.

Notably absent from the line up as compared to the SEABA team are Allein Maliksi, Troy Rosario and Andray Blatche, Troy will instead play with the remaining Gilas cadets in the Southeast Asian Games and try to retain the country's supremacy in the region. Blatche on the other hand said that there are multiple reasons on why the cannot join the team in Lebanon.

The FIBA Asia Cup will be on August 9 to 20, 2017 in Lebanon and games will be aired in TV% and Aksyon TV.

GILAS PILIPINAS : SEABA SCHEDULE NOW OUT

Gilas Pilipinas' schedule in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association Championship was released last week. The games will be hosted by the Philippines at the Smart Araneta Coliseum from May 12 - 18.

Here is the schedule posted at the Twitter page of PBA :

The 2017 SEABA tournament schedule is out! Mark your calendars! #LabanPilipinas 🇵🇭 pic.twitter.com/PEA6z5Gqgy

— PBAonTV5 (@PBAonTV5) March 27, 2017

Still waiting for the ticket prices and ticket sales announcement but I will definitely watch at least one of these games.

BATANG GILAS COMPETES IN THE 2016 FIBA ASIA UNDER 18 CHAMPIONSHIP

After the dismal showing of Gilas Pilipinas in the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifier a few weeks ago, it is their younger counterparts' turn to wear the Pilipinas jersey. The Batang Gilas team will be competing in the 2016 FIBA ASia Under 18 Championship in Tehran, Iran starting tomorrow, July 22.

They earned their ticket to this competition by topping the 2016 SEABA Under-18 Championship early this year.

The team is composed of the following players, mostly are the players who played in the SEABA Championships:

Bahio, JB
Carino, Kenmark
Flores, Theo Joshua
Gallego, John Vincent
Lee, Rendell
Madrigal, Jethro
Mamuyac, Gian
Mendoza, Jolo
Pagsanjan, Harvey
Sinclair, Joshua
Tibayan, Joshua
Yu, Fran

The team is coached by Michael Oliver and Jonas Mendoza. Team photo below is posted in Sports5 Twitter account :

TOURNAMENT PREVIEW | Batang Gilas hopes to slay giants in #FIBAU18Asia https://t.co/9zsI6kMeLF pic.twitter.com/7fJpilBSJu

— Sports5 (@Sports5PH) July 21, 2016

Some familiar names are in the roster - Mendoza and Mamuyac are Ateneo recruits; Sinclair, Flores and Lee participated in the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championships recently and Tibayan was part of the Gilas Cadets who swept the 2016 SEABE Championship in Thailand.

Philippines was drawn in Group A in the single round robin elimination round - together with defending champions China, 2014 4th placer Chinese Taipei, Iraq, India and Thailand, Group B teams include hosts Iran, 2014 3rd placer South Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan, Indonesia and Lebanon.

The top 4 in each team will advance in the crossover knockout quarterfinal round.

Here is the schedule of Batang Gilas' games in the elimination round. YouTube link to the livestream is also provided and will be updated once all links are available :

July 22 - vs Chinese Taipei (livestream link here)
July 23 - vs Iraq (livestream link here)
July 24 - vs China (livestream link here)
July 26 - vs India
July 27 - vs Thailand

Good luck Batang Gilas!

GILAS PILIPINAS : JAYSON CASTRO ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT FROM INTERNATIONAL PLAY

After Ranidel de Ocampo, another Gilas Pilipinas mainstay announced his retirement from international basketball after the Philippines' elimination in the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament here in Manila.

Back to back Asia's best point guard in the 2013 and 2015 FIBA Asia Championship and Gilas veteran playmaker Jayson Castro announced in his Instagram account that he will no longer suit up for Gilas Pilipinas :

The end of our bid for a spot at the Rio Olympics will also be the end of my stint as a member of Gilas Pilipinas. For the past few years, it has been my honor to represent all of you but now it's time to hand over the responsibility to the younger generation. Maraming salamat sa walang sawang pagsuporta niyo sa Gilas. Hindi ko makakalimutan lahat ng pinagsamahan natin. Ako si Jayson Castro William, taga Guagua, Pampanga, lumaban para sa bayan. #7 #PUSO

A photo posted by Jayson Castro (@jaywill_17) on Jul 7, 2016 at 7:05am PDT

Thank you very much Jayson Castro for all the sacrifices and hardwork. When Jimmy Alapag retired, it was definitely a big shoe to fill as point guard and leader of the team but you never disappointed us.

Salamat Jayson Castro for showing us what PUSO means!

GILAS PILIPINAS : HOW ANDRAY BLATCHE FEEL AFTER PHILIPPINES' ELIMINATION IN THE FIBA OQT

Philippine naturalized player Andrat Blatche posted on Instagram how he felt after the elimination of the Philippines in the FIBA Olympic Qualifier Tournament. He posted on his Instagram account :

Walking off this court was the hardest thing for me to do n a long time the love and support I have gotten here is more the enough flying back home jus don't feel rite

A photo posted by Andray Blatche (@draylive) on Jul 6, 2016 at 5:53pm PDT

Blatche has helped the Philippines in international competiotion since the 2014 FIBA World Cup and has obviously been very close to his teammates in Gilas Pilipinas.

To Andray, we really appreciate your help to the Gilas Pilipinas. You always give your all, truly you have the heart of a Filipino - PUSO!