Fil-Nigerian 6-7 kid eyes Gilas stint

MANILA, Philippines – Two weeks after Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas President Manny V. Pangilinan announced that the NSA is looking for taller players to beef up the national youth teams, a 6-7, 14-year old kid based in United Kingdom has heeded the call.

AJ Edu, born to a Filipina mother and a Nigerian father, has made his plans known to suit up for Philippines if given the opportunity. Smart Gilas Pilipinas 2.0 Facebook page broke Edu’s story the other day and has since been making the rounds in the social media.  

One of the administrators of the Facebook fan page Joe Fer Ares, who is known by his alias Korn, told Philstar.com that Josie Edu, AJ’s mother, sent a personal message to them the other day asking for help to get in touch with the SBP and the national team.

Josie said her son holds a Filipino passport since he was two years old and would like to inquire on the possibility of playing for the national team.

The Batang Gilas U-17 and U-18 suffered back-to-back heartbreakers in the FIBA Asia and FIBA World championships, respectively, with their roster wanting in height against taller national teams.

Batang Gilas U-17, competing in the world championships for the first time, had a rude awakening after they saw that heart was not enough to battle the bigger opponents as they wound up 15^th out of the 16 teams that qualified. The U-18 team, on the other hand, fell short of qualifying for the FIBA World U-19 Championship after they failed to get past the quarterfinals of the Asian championships.

AJ is a promising prospect for the national team but SBP needs to move fast as other national teams have already taken notice of him.  

According to Aj’s mother, the Wales national basketball team is recruiting him to suit up for them.  The Wales national teams regularly compete in the international basketball test series at all age groups in FIBA Europe, according to their website (basketballwales.com).

But Josie wants his son to play for the country and wear the Gilas colors.

“He has been trained since he was seven years old in FIBA Europe training way [style]. He is playing in a national level with the Under-14, U-16 and this year, he will start training with the U-18. I want him to be of help and benefit his country as well,” Josie Edu was quoted by Ares in her message sent to their Facebook fan page.

Aj has yet to suit up for any other national team though he nearly did with Greece but their family moved to Wales last year, according to his mother.

Josie, who hails from Surigao City, though made it clear that her son has no plans to play college basketball in the Philippines as they are eyeing a US college stint with the hopes of someday making it to the NBA.  

Aj’s father Ayotunde Edu, who is 6-8, used to be a basketball player in Nigeria and now serves as high school basketball coach in Wales.

Ares has already got in touched with an SBP official while this writer has also forwarded Edu’s contact details to national coach Chot Reyes and his son Josh, one of his assistants in the Gilas Pilipinas men’s team.

Reyes has already talked to his contacts in the US to also find Fil-Americans this early to help sustain the national basketball programs of the SBP.