The Gilas Pilipinas women’s team set up a weeklong camp in Australia as part of the final stretch of its preparations for the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2023.
Gilas Pilipinas Women (File Photo from Ariya Kurniawan)
The Filipinas dribblers, who flew for Melbourne on Saturday, are expected to wrap up their buildup with a little more sharpening when they take on at least three more teams in tuneup games before flying to Sydney for the competition which kicks off on June 26.
The final week of the team’s preparation is deemed crucial to the Filipinas’ campaign especially in trying to integrate prized recruit Vanessa De Jesus to the scheme of things and get her accustomed to playing with her teammates.
The Duke University standout is expected to be a huge boost for Gilas heading into the tournament but would only come to fruition if she and the rest of the team, which also features the likes of Afril Bernardino, Jack Animam, Ella Fajardo and Janine Pontejos, play on the same page.
The Gilas women have the work cut out for them after being drawn in Group A where they are set to face the host Australia first on the opening day on June 26. Gilas will take on perennial contender Japan the next day before wrapping up the preliminaries against Chinese Taipei.
Gilas will need at least to finish in the top 3 of the group stage to advance to the knockout rounds where the top teams from the two groups will get an outright semifinals spot, The second and third placers from each group will then figure in the crossover quarterfinals.
Gilas is looking at finishing at least in the Top four of the tournament which will merit spots to the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup.