Sotto banners Batang Gilas for FIBA U-16 tilt

MANILA, Philippines – Ateneo’s seven-foot center Kai Zachary Sotto, who was recently named UAAP juniors Finals Most Valuable Player, will lead the Philippines’ squad to the FIBA U-16 Asian Championships in Foshan, China from April 2-8.

Joining Sotto in the 12-man squad that will be coached by Michael Oliver are his fellow gold medal-winning teammates from the 2017 SEABA tournament Rafael Go, Raven Cortez, McLaude Guadaña, Terrence Fortea, Recaredo Christian Calimag, Rence Padrigao and Shaun Geoffrey Chiu. Newcomers to the squad are Jerick Kyle Bautista, Joshua Rafael Lazaro, Yukien Andrada and King Balaga.

MC Abolucion and John Arenas will assist Oliver in the coaching staff.

The Philippines is bracketed with powerhouse Australia and Malaysia in Group B.

• Group A: China, New Zealand, Hong Kong
• Group B: Australia, Philippines, Malaysia
• Group C: Iran, Chinese Taipei, Macau
• Group D: Korea, Japan, Lebanon, India

The competition is set to tip off on April 2 in Foshan. The games will be played at the Lignan Pearl Gymnasium.

The best placed team in each group will qualify directly to the knockout stage starting with the quarterfinals. The second and third place squads will proceed to the playoff round. The fourth placed team in each group will be eliminated.

“The strength of the team will be our speed and outside shooting,”said Oliver of his lineup. “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.”

“My teammates and I are excited to represent the Philippines in this competition and we hope we can do well and advance,” said Sotto. “It will be difficult but that’s all part of the competition.”

A total of 13 countries will be participating in this tournament, which is the springboard for the FIBA U-17 Basketball World Cup 2018 in Argentina. Only the top four countries from Asia will advance.