Gilas eyes Doha camp in preparation for Asia Cup meet

GILAS PILIPINAS will go to Doha, Qatar for its next camp, seeking to simulate the elements it expects to encounter when it eventually competes in the FIBA Asia Cup in August in Saudi Arabia.

The Nationals, who have already secured their spot in the Continental meet with still one window to spare in the Qualifiers, will test themselves against counterparts from Qatar, Lebanon and Egypt in the Second Doha International Cup from Feb. 14 to 16 in this trip.

After this, Tim Cone’s troops will do more traveling as they wrap up their campaign in the Asia Cup Qualifiers on the road against Chinese Taipei (Feb. 20) and New Zealand (Feb. 23).

“We want it (training camp) hard because this is about preparation (for the Asia Cup proper),” said Mr. Cone, whose Gilas squad is scheduled to leave for Qatar on Thursday after wrapping up its two-day sessions at Inspire Sports Academy in Laguna.

“We are qualified (already) and so we’re not concerned so much about the qualification now as much as we are concerned about the actual FIBA Asia tournament. So we’re going to use this time as a chance to prepare for the FIBA Asia. It’s early but that’s the only time we’re going to have so we have to take advantage of the times that we have to do it.”

The multi-titled mentor foresees a short training period before the Aug. 5 to 17 Asia Cup and thus arranged for Gilas to have a three-games-in-three-days experience in the Middle East against Middle Eastern rivals now.

“In the FIBA Asia, we’ll play three days in a row most likely and we’ll be playing in the Middle East, in this weather. So these are things that are going to help us prepare,” he said.

“And this team hasn’t played a Middle Eastern team yet so they haven’t got a feel for their style. We played European, South American, Asian (opponents) but we haven’t played Middle Eastern so this will be that chance. I’m sure we’re going to be playing some Middle Eastern teams during the FIBA Asia,” he added. — Olmin Leyba