SINGAPORE—A vengeful Perlas Pilipinas opens its women’s basketball campaign in the 28th Southeast Asian Games against archrival Thailand on Tuesday at the OCBC Arena Hall 1.
The national women’s basketball team’s mission: Slay the team that denied them the gold for two straight SEA Games.
Game time is at 9 a.m.
Sinag Pilipinas, the cadet team of Gilas Pilipinas, faces Indonesia in the men’s division at 1 p.m. on Wednesday in the same venue.
Perlas Pilipinas Head Coach Patrick Aquino has vowed to reverse the outcome this time.
“We certainly feel the pressure, knowing that everybody is curious on how we will perform,’’ Aquino said.
Ewon Arayi, Analyn Almazan and Allana May Lim are back on the team and they will be backstopped by two Most Valuable Players in the past two University Athletic Association of the Philippines seasons—National University’s Afril Bernardino and Far Eastern University’s Camille Sambile.
“There’s nothing more to aspire for than the gold,” said Aquino, who steered the NU Lady Bulldogs to the University Athletic Association of the Philippines women’s title last season.
The team is also composed of Danica Jose, Shelley Ann Gupilan, Cindy Resultay, Clare Castro, Sofia Roman, Fria Bernardo and Raiza Palmera. Six teams are entered in women’s basketball. They play only one round and the team with the best record wins the gold.