Duke's De Jesus to join Gilas women in FIBA Asia Cup

MANILA, Philippines — Duke University standout Vanessa De Jesus is set for her Gilas Pilipinas women debut, at last. 

The US NCAA Division I guard, who has been on the Gilas radar for years, will reinforce the Filipina dribblers for the coming FIBA Women’s Asia Cup on June 26 to July 3 in Sydney, Australia.

“We will be joined by Vanessa for this tourney,” Gilas women head coach and program director Pat Aquino told The STAR Saturday. 

De Jesus, the 5-foot-8 floor general of the Blue Devils, obtained her Philippine passport last month that paved the way for her availability to finally don national colors.

Born to both Filipino parents, the 21-year-old De Jesus based from California, however, will fill the naturalized player spot given FIBA’s requirement to secure a passport before turning 16 to play as a local.

Aquino said De Jesus is a massive addition for the Nationals, who are bunched with five-time champion Japan, host Australia and Chinese Taipei in Group B of the Asia Cup Division A serving as a Paris Olympics qualifier. 

“Wow. Malaking bagay for us. Not just for us in this tournament but for the program as well. Having a legit Division I player playing for the national team diba, sana may mag-follow na iba. ‘Yun naman ang goal natin,” Aquino beamed.

“Vanessa will help us a lot in the guard position. She’s a big point guard and she can really compete against the best.” 

De Jesus has already secured permission from Duke and is just ironing out her academic schedule before joining the Gilas training camp here or in Australia already. 

Gilas, after a silver medal finish in the Cambodia Southeast Asian Games last month, has been training non-stop since then at the Aero Center in Quezon City before flying on June 17 to Melbourne for a series of friendlies as its final build-up.