The Smart Gilas Team Pilipinas leaves tonight for Jakarta, Indonesia, to defend their Southeast Asian Basketball Association Championship. The four-nation joust is set to start tomorrow until Sunday. Malaysia, Singapore, and host Indonesia are the other countries vying for the three slots to the FIBA Asia Olympic qualifiers in Wuhan, China on September. The Nationals will not be in full force as various injuries had hit the squad prior to the regional meet. Marcio Lassiter, JV Casio, Chris Lutz, and Japeth Aguilar are all currently in sick bay while Dylan Ababou is still in the recovery stage after battling flu the past week. Big men Greg Slaughter and Aldrech Ramos will also miss the tourney due to school commitments. Smart Gilas Serbian head coach Rajko Toroman says the lack of manpower in his team makes it tough to defend the SEABA title.
“Not so good, the injuries. What can I say except its going to be tougher for us than expected, not thanks to these injuries and not having enough players. But we’ll do all we can to compete in the SEABA and clinch a spot in the FIBA-Asia Championship.”
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