SMART Gilas head coach Rajko Toroman believes his team is ready to do battle in the 22nd International Basketball Federation (Fiba)-Asia Champions Cup, which starts on Saturday at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
“I think we are ready,” said the Serbian, as Gilas begins its campaign against Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia at 6 p.m.
“We have four friendly games [against the club teams] and the results are good. I think we are ready for the Champions Cup,” Toroman added.
The Nationals beat Ittihad in a friendly match, 99-63.
The Philippines is in a lighter bracket in Group A with Al Ittihad, ASU of Jordan, KL Dragons of Malaysia and Duhok of Iraq.
The other bracket, tagged as the “group of death,” is composed of defending champion Mahram of Iran, Al Rayyan of Qatar, Al Shabbab of the United Arab Emirates, Al Jalaa of Syria and Al Riyadi of Lebanon.
Toroman said with their rivals fielding two imports each, the competition will be much tougher as the nationals are playing without any foreign reinforcement, except for naturalized American Marcus Douthit.
“This Champions Cup is definitely a tough tournament for us but I think we can advance in our group,” said Toroman.
Smart Gilas five will be reinforced by Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) stars Asi Taulava and Dondon Hontiveros.
The other members of the team are skipper Chris Tiu, cocaptain Mark Barroca, Japeth Aguilar, Chris Lutz, Mac Baracael, JV Casio, Marcio Lassiter, Jason Ballesteros, Dylan Ababou, Greg Slaughter and Aldrech Ramos.
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas has arranged a dinner banquet on Friday for all the participating teams at the Meralco Multipurpose Hall, which also serves as the opening ceremonies of the annual competition, according to SBP executive director Sonny Barrios.
Iraq’s Duhok and ASU of Jordan open hostilities at 2 p.m., followed by the big match between Mahram and Al Jalaa at 4 p.m. Al Shabbab and Al Riyadi cap the opening-day matches at 8 p.m.
The Philippines battles KL Dragons on May 29 also at 6 p.m., then takes a break the following day. It will meet Duhok on May 31 and ASU on June 1.
