MANILA, Philippines – After an impressive stint at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Riga, Latvia, Gilas Pilipinas safely arrived in NAIA late Tuesday, July 9.
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| Gilas Pilipinas arrived safely home on Tuesday night at NAIA after an impressive run at the FIBA OQT in Riga, Latvia. Photo Credit: SBP |
Upon arrival in the country, Kevin Quiambao shares what he learned playing for the national team at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
"Sobrang laking experience kahit na hindi ganon ako nagagamit," Quiambao said to the reporters.
After playing for Gilas, Quiambao also notes that he will now focus on playing for De La Salle University in the upcoming UAAP men's basketball.
"Pero ayon nga pahinga muna and ako focus muna sa La Salle may kaniya-kaniyang team," Quiambao explains.
For coach Tim Cone, he said with confidence that Gilas can keep up especially with the European teams that they played against.
"After we won our first game we got to the semis we've thought we had a really a good chance sayang we lost Kai and but the take away I guess is we know we can play with this strong European teams. We feel we had a lot of room we still get better. Every tournament we play now we expect to get better," Cone said to the reporters after they landed.
Although they didn't get the job done in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, coach Cone is anticipating getting ready for the next tournament of Gilas in November.
"But we're looking forward to our next trip in November, our next tournament in November," Cone said.
Cone explains that in November, Gilas will play for FIBA qualifiers and will compete against New Zealand and Taipei.
"Just hoping we can keep the guys together. We started a lot of growth in our young players," Cone added.
Gilas ends their campaign at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament with a 1 win and 2 losses.
The national team beat the world No. 6 Latvia and lost against Georgia and Brazil.
— Carl Santiago, The Summit Express
