By Ivan Stewart Saldajeno/PNA
MANILA — Thirdy Ravena is making his way to the Gilas Pilipinas lineup for the sixth window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
Ravena made the final cut for the 12-man roster for the Philippine team that will take on Qatar in an all-important showdown in Doha early Friday (Philippine time).
As announced by Coach Yeng Guiao on Tuesday night, Ravena will become the only collegiate player in the team that will be mainly composed of professional basketball stars.
Joining Ravena are Jayson Castro and Troy Rosario, his dad Bong’s players at TNT Katropa in the Philippine Basketball Association.
Also making the cut are Japeth Aguilar, Mark Barroca, Poy Erram, June Mar Fajardo, Marcio Lassiter, Paul Lee, Gabe Norwood, and Scottie Thompson.
As expected, Andray Blatche will make the squad as Gilas’ naturalized player.
RR Pogoy will still serve his suspension at the Qatar game and can only become available in Gilas’ final game against Kazakhstan on Sunday night.
Raymond Almazan, on the other hand, will sit out the Qatar game due to an ankle sprain suffered in practice.
Gilas needs to sweep the entire final window to have a chance at making the FIBA Basketball World Cup in China.
