Top 5 finish seen for Gilas in 2011 FIBA Asia

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) executive director Renauld “Sonny" Barrios is seeing a top five finish for the Smart Gilas Pilipinas squad for the 2011 FIBA-Asia men’s basketball tournament set September 15 to 25 in Wuhan, China. The Philippine team left for China Tuesday as they go for a lone berth for Asia in the 2012 London Olympics. “We prepared long and hard for this tournament. Bilog naman ang bola so tignan natin. With some luck, who knows? " said Barrios at the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum Tuesday. National coach Rajko Toroman is targeting a semifinal finish for the Nationals in the tournament. Without disputing Toroman’s target, Barrios believes that a top five will be more attainable as Smart Gilas Pilipinas is pitted against the best teams in Asia. “The Final Four goal is quite an ambitious one. Maybe a top five finish is a more reasonable goal," he said. The Nationals will open their campaign against United Arab Emirates on Thursday, followed by 14-time Asian champion and Yi Jian Lian and Wang Zhi Zhi-led China on Friday. Smart Gilas wraps up its preliminaries against Bahrain Saturday. Meanwhile, UAAP top guns Bobby Ray Parks of National University and Greg Slaughter and Kiefer Ravena of Ateneo joins naturalized Filipino Marcus Douthit in the provisional line-up for the men’s basketball team for the 2011 Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia. Also included in the line-up are RR Garcia of Far Eastern University, Ronald Pascual of San Sebastian, Garvo Lanete and Jake Pascual of San Beda, Emman Monfort and Nico Salva of Ateneo and Fil-Ams Cliff Hodge and Chris Ellis of NLEX Road Warriors of the PBA D-League. But Barrios clarified that the line-up is still not final as SBP had to submit a line-up to the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) to the Indonesia SEA Games Organizing Committee (INASOC). “This is not the final line-up yet. There is a possibility that it will be increased or decreased," said Barrios. — KBK, GMA News