Chinese national team to stay in PH for Gilas tune-up games

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The Chinese national basketball team will be extending their stay in the Philippines after confirming that they will have tune-up games against Gilas Pilipinas.

In preparation for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, Serbia, coach Du Feng of China thinks this will be a great opportunity to play against the redefined Gilas squad.

“For this Asia Cup qualifiers, the Philippine team actually had good games, and I think the games which we will play against them will be good experience for us before we play our opponents in the OQT against Canada and Greece,” said China’s head coach.

Gilas had an impressive run in the recently concluded FIBA tournament after beating Korea in two consecutive games in Group A.

Aside from Korea, the Tab Baldwin-led squad also man-handled Indonesia who was backstopped by former PBA import Lester Prosper and former Gilas head coach Rajko Toroman.

Meanwhile, the Chinese national team also went undefeated in their group despite a strong showing from Japan in their last two games.

Coach Feng admitted that their current squad for FIBA is also a mix of young guns and veterans and they are still trying to figure out the right combination on the floor and they hope the games against the PH can help.

Key matchups worth looking at are Kai Sotto against former NBA player Zhou Qi, Ange Kouame against giant Liu Chuanxing, and Dwight Ramos going up against Hu Mingxuan.