MANILA, Philippines - Smart Gilas Pilipinas will have to make do with the tune-up matches with Qatar and Jordan from Sept. 8-11 and a couple of pickup games with the PBA teams for its FIBA Asia Championship buildup after its planned friendly matches with Lebanon failed to push through.
“They are not coming,” said Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman referring to the Lebanese national team, considered a legitimate contender in the FIBA-Asia Championship set Sept. 15-25 in Wuhan, China which stakes a lone berth in next year’s Olympics.
“We will have to be satisfied with our tune-up games against Qatar, Jordan and some PBA teams,” he added.
In the absence of the Lebanese games, the Nationals played the Meralco Bolts yesterday and are set to take on the other PBA squads in the next few days before the Qataris and the Jordanians.
Against the Bolts, however, Smart Gilas played without Talk n Text’s Jimmy Alapag and Kelly Williams, who are only expected to arrive from the US today. Team captain Chris Tiu also sit out the game with a swollen left ankle.
“They are coming on Saturday, they will practice on Sunday,” said Toroman referring to Alapag and Williams.
“I rested my ankle, I stopped training last Wednesday to allow it to heal because it has swollen again,” said Tiu.
“I’ll start playing and practicing again on Sunday, I hope we’ll be complete by that time,” he added.
Naturalized Marcus Douthit is back from the US while Ranidel de Ocampo, also of TnT, joined team in practice since Monday.
JV Casio also returned to the team after a knee injury.