Fil-German takes Blatche’s spot in Asia Cup

MANILA, Philippines - With Andray Blatche begging off due to security concern, Fil-German forward Christian Standhardinger is taking over as the naturalized player of Gilas Pilipinas in the FIBA Asia Cup in Lebanon from Aug. 8-20.

Nine Gilas players in the recent SEABA Championship are again donning the national colors in the Asian meet together with Standhardinger, returning Gilas player Gabe Norwood of Rain Or Shine and Gilas cadet Carl Bryan Cruz of Alaska.

June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel Beer, Japeth Aguilar of Barangay Ginebra, Terrence Romeo of GlobalPort, Star’s Jio Jalalon, Phoenix Petroleum’s Matthew Wright, Alaska’s Calvin Abueva, Rain or Shine’s Raymond Almazan and TNT KaTropa’s Jayson Castro and RR Pogoy are the holdovers from the SEABA team.

National coach Chot Reyes announced his Final 12 to the Asia Cup in his Twitter account.

“12 men; 12 days of practice,” he tweeted, hinting at a 12-day training in the Lebanon meet where they will play China, Iraq and Qatar in group plays.

TNT, Alaska and ROS are lending two players each to the national team in the tourney.