MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas’ naturalized center Andray Blatche will once again wear the country’s colors as he suits up for Mighty Sports-Philippines in the 31st Dubai International Basketball Championship from Jan. 23 to Feb. 1.
The 6-foot-11 former NBA player will serve as one of the Philippine representatives’ imports as they hope to improve on their third place finish in the same tournament early last year.
“Well, actually we’ve wanted to get him for a while. I know he’s motivated to have a better showing representing the Philippines,” said Mighty Sports-Philippines head coach Charles Tiu.
The 33-year-old Blatche averaged 15.8 points and 8.4 rebounds during the World Cup but Gilas finished dead last among the 32 teams that competed after finishing off the tournament without a win.
Blatche joins Kai Sotto, Dave Ildefonso, Juan and Javi Gomez De Liaño in the weeklong tournament.
“I know that Dray really wanted to take on a mentorship role with Kai. We tried to make it happen and get them both as early as our Jones Cup stint this year but it didn’t happen then but now it’s finally happening,” Tiu said.
The Mighty Sports-Philippines is slated to compete with Libya’s Al Ahli, Syria’s Alwathba Sports Club, the UAE Men’s National Basketball Team, and UAE’s Alittihad Alexandria Club./PN
