Blatche-led Gilas off to World Cup elims war

MANILA, Philippines — Naturalized player Andray Blatche, frontline partner June Mar Fajardo and ace playmaker Jayson Castro lead the 16-man Gilas pool departing for Tokyo this morning, three days ahead of their faceoff with Japan in the opener of the FIBA Asia World Cup qualifiers at the Komazawa Gymnasium.

Japeth Aguilar, Raymond Almazan, Kiefer Ravena, Kevin Alas, Calvin Abueva, Carl Bryan Cruz, Matthew Wright, Gabe Norwood, Troy Rosario, Mac Belo, RR Pogoy and Allein Maliksi   are the other candidates in the Gilas squad out to get the country to a winning start in this home-and-away qualifying series involving 14 other Asian and Oceania teams.

Coach Chot Reyes and team manager Butch Antonio lead the delegation flying to Tokyo via a PAL flight at 8:55 a.m.

The Filipinos and the Japanese, fierce rivals in the early years of Asian basketball competitions, clash at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Chinese Taipei plays host against Australia, Kazakhstan visits Qatar while Iraq enjoys the home-court advantage against Iran on the same day.

On Thursday, it’s New Zealand versus Korea in Wellington, China against Hong Kong in Nanjing, and Syria opposite Jordan, and Lebanon versus India both at the Nouhad Nawfal Sports Complex in Zouk Mikael, Lebanon.

Syria is not playing a home game because of the conflict at home.

Reyes is bringing Gilas early in Tokyo to acclimatize with the cold weather.

Sixteen pool players will be with Reyes but Terrence Romeo is doubtful with an injured knee, a big blow to the team’s campaign, considering the GlobalPort playmaker emerged as the leading Gilas scorer in the recent FIBA Asia Cup in Beirut.

Gilas, however, will surely not lack in scoring with 15 healthy players.

Blatche, Fajardo, Aguilar and Almazan will form a towering frontline for the Filipinos against the Japanese whom they swept in two games in the 2015 Asian meet in Changsha.

Castro, Ravena and Alas are all heady guards while Rosario, Abueva, Norwood, Maliksi, Cruz, Wright, Pogoy and Belo are all fine options at wing spots.

Though coming in late in training, Blatche is confident he can cope.