Dave Ildefonso, Kobe Paras highlight youthful Gilas pool for upcoming Qualifiers window

MANILA (Philippines) - The Philippines have intriguing matchups up ahead in the second window of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers. For those games, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) will be lining up some intriguing players as listed in the 16-player pool for the upcoming Qualifiers window.

Four players are returning from the team listed in the first window: Isaac Go, Juan Gomez De Liaño, Matt Nieto, and Dwight Ramos. “Gilas” scored a win over Indonesia in Jakarta with Gomez De Liaño scoring 10 points in 11.3 minutes played.

The other players listed in the pool are a mix of familiar faces and hopeful youngsters.

Standouts Dave Ildefonso, Kobe Paras, and Kenmark Carino are among the players named and will each be bringing along a healthy resume of national team play at the youth level. Ildefonso, in particular, has starred for the Philippines from the U18 Asian Championship 2018 to U19 World Cup 2019.

Other noteworthy players in the pool include collegiate standouts Calvin Oftana and Angelo Kouame. Oftana is a reigning MVP in the local NCAA collegiate league whereas Kouame is a big man who averaged 12.9 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks in the local UAAP collegiate league this past season.

The Philippines are in Group A of the Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers along with Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia. In the upcoming second window of the Qualifiers, the games of Group A as well as Group D will be played in Manama, Bahrain.

The Philippines will be playing against Korea and Thailand on November 28 and 30, respectively. This will be the first time the Philippines plays against Korea in the Qualifiers and will be an extension of their highly anticipated rivalry.

In addition, the Philippines will also be playing against Thailand on November 26. The postponed game was previously scheduled to be played in Window 1 and will now take place before the Window 2 games.

FIBA