|
THE
Philippine young men’s team begins its campaign in the
Southeast Asia Basketball Association (Seaba)
Championship for Junior Men against host Malaysia at the
start of the tournament on May 1.
Thailand
and Indonesia open the five-nation tournament, to be
held in
Kuala Lumpur, as they collide in the opening game.
Next in
line for the young Filipino dribblers are the Thais on
May 2. The wards of coach Franz Pumaren
then take a break on May 3. The 18-under RP squad faces
Indonesia on May 4, before wrapping up its campaign
against
Singapore
on May 5.
 The
top team after the single-round elimination will be
declared champion.
Pumaren
has yet to trim his 19-man pool as he awaits the arrival
of two Filipino-Americans discovered during the team’s
two-week training at the Joe Abunassar camp in
California.
Expected
to join the team are six-foot-seven Norbert Torres, who
hails from Canada, and Kyle Pascual, a six-foot-six
burly forward-center. Ian Sangalang from Pampanga was
also the latest addition to the training pool.
Pumaren
plans to bring a 15-man roster to Malaysia and will
decide on the final 12 on the eve of the tournament.
The
Philippine youth team is the heavy favorite in the
tournament, although Pumaren is wary about the lack of
intelligence reports on their opponents.
“We
really have no time to scout them. We’ll just maximize
what we have and see what adjustments we [can] do,”
Pumaren said.
Pumaren
said they got wind that Malaysia has a six-foot-seven
naturalized player on its lineup.
Also in
the training pool are Jed Manguera, Mark Lopez, Joseph
Marata, Frank Golla, Philip Paredes, Joel Tolentino,
Gabriel Banal, Jeric Teng, JP Mendoza, Jairold Flores,
Joseph Terso, Jerome Ramos, Ryan Garcia and Joven
Mendoza.
The
team, if it wins in
Malaysia,
will advance to the Fiba-Asia Youth tournament in
Iran
in September, a qualifier for the 2010 World Youth
Olympics. |
