PHNOM PENH—The road to redemption begins for Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 teams Saturday in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games at the Morodok Techo National Stadium Elephant Hall 2.
The men take on Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia at 10:20 a.m. (11:20 a.m. in Manila) and 1:40 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively, in Pool A action.
The women, on the other hand, face Vietnam, Laos and Thailand at 9:20 a.m., 12 noon and 3:40 p.m.
The top two teams in the two groups advance to the semifinals on Sunday for the right to play for the gold medal on the same day.
The Gilas Men and Women are hoping to regain the gold medals in 3×3 play they swept in the 2019 edition in Manila.
The men’s team settled for the bronze while the women’s squad came home empty handed from Hanoi last year.
Almond Vosotros, Lervin Flores, Joseph Eriobu, and Joseph Sedurifa make up the men’s team while Jack Animam, Afril Bernardino, Janine Pontejos and Mikka Cacho comprise the women’s squad.
“The last three days of practice have been excellent,” said men’s 3×3 coach Lester Del Rosario following Friday’s practice at the Elephant Hall 2. “You can see in their faces that they are ready.”
Vosotros and Flores were members of the TNT Tropang Giga team that won the Philippine Basketball 3×3 grand slam during the recently-concluded season.
“They are all winners. We have shooters and defense,” said Del Rosario.
Women’s coach Pat Aquino said the road to the gold medal will be difficult with their opponents also beefing up their rosters.
“It’s going to be tough,” said Aquino. “We are going to play our best. I told the girls to just try your best. We don’t have to worry who we are facing. We have to think about what we can do better.”