GILAS Pilipinas kicks off its hectic weekend by playing the Qatar national team in a friendly at the University of Qatar.
The match is set early Saturday morning (1:30 a.m.) in the first of three exhibition games the Filipinos will play in Doha as part of its training camp and preparation for the coming FIBA Asia Cup.
The Gilas team arrived in Qatar Thursday night.
The national team will miss out young big man Kai Sotto, who is currently recovering from an ACL surgery, but welcomes back the returning Jamie Malonzo and AJ Edu.
While the absence of the 7-foot-3 Sotto has great impact to the team, coach Tim Cone said focus now is on the integration of Malonzo and Edu back into the Gilas system.
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"We'll be missing Kai, but the good news is we're going to have AJ and Jamie back.
Jamie continues to rounding to form in terms of his game. He's fine physically," said Cone of Malonzo, who missed out on the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament and the second leg of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifier after undergoing surgery on his calf.
The Gilas coach however, maintains injecting the 6-foot-10 Edu into the team's scheme of things is the crucial one as he'll be playing under Cone for the first time since the veteran coach took over the national team program late in 2023.
"(But) AJ is really the target. We felt he needed more games before we go to the FIBA Asia in August. So we're excited of bringing AJ to the fold," said Cone.
Edu came over to Manila during the second leg of the Asia Cup qualifier, but Cone and the rest of the coaching staff opted to just rest him after hurting his knee while playing in the B. League prior to arriving in the country.
After Qatar, Gilas will have less than 24 hours of rest as it gets back to the playing court late Saturday evening (11:00 p.m.) when it goes up against Lebanon.
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The team then plays Egypt early Monday morning (1:30 a.m.) for its final friendly before flying back to Manila in the evening.
Like the Philippines, Lebanon already secured a berth in the Asia Cup main tournament, while Qatar is still battling for the remaining spots in Group E.
The friendlies are made possible by the Qatar Basketball Federation as part of its preparation for the hosting of the 2027 FIBA World Cup.
Upon returning to Manila, Gilas departs for Chinese Taipei the following day (Feb. 18) for the third and final leg of the Asia Cup qualifiers.
The team faces the Taiwanese on Feb. 20 and then proceed to Auckland, New Zealand for its Feb. 23 rematch with the Tall Blacks.(RG)
