Batang Gilas to parade size at Fiba U16 Asia
MANILA (FIBA U16 Asia Championship 2018) - For the first time ever, the Philippines U16 national team may be one of the tallest at the FIBA U16 Asia Championship this year.
Bannered by towering 15-year-old Kai Zachary Sotto, the Filipino youngsters - also known as Batang Gilas - will travel to Foshan 11 months after they dominated the SEABA U16 Championship held in Manila last May. Along with Sotto, expected to lead the way for the Filipinos are holdovers Mac Guadaña, Forthsky Padrigao and RC Calimag.
The 7ft 1in (2.14m) Sotto was recently named Finals Most Valuable Player as his high school team won the Juniors Basketball Championship in the UAAP 2018 tournament, averaging 17.0 points, 12.3 rebounds and 6.3 blocks per game in the best-of-three championship series.
The national team mentored by head coach Michael Oliver will also be composed of other SEABA U16 veterans like Rafael Go, Raven Cortez, Terrence Fortea, Josh Lazaro and 6ft 8in (2.02m) Geo Chiu. Newcomers to the team are other Philippine high school standouts Kyle Bautista, Yukien Andrada and King Balaga.
"The strength of the team will be our speed and outside shooting,"said Oliver. "We will definitely take Kai Sotto’s presence inside from time to time. We don’t want to place pressure on the boys so we will take this one game at a time and see how far we can go."
Batang Gilas are in Group B together with fellow SEABA side Malaysia and powerhouse Australia. They begin their campaign on 2 April against Malaysia before facing the Crocs on 4 April.
The Filipinos are looking for an emphatic bounce back campaign after they were eliminated in the Quarter-Finals of the FIBA U16 Asia Championship 2015 by Japan. The top four teams in this competition will qualify for the FIBA U17 World Cup in Argentina later this year. FIBA