Kiefer Ravena is already in town and is ready just in case Gilas Pilipinas needs his services for the FIBA Basketball World Cup that the country will host from 25 August to 10 September.
Ravena arrived from Japan a few days ago and is enjoying his vacation while getting himself ready for the grueling workout in preparation for the prestigious 32-nation tournament.
Gilas coach Chot Reyes will open the training camp on Wednesday.
Initially, the training camp was set to open on 1 June, but Reyes opted to push it back to give his fellow coaches and players extra days to rest and recover following their campaign in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games.
Assistant coach Tim Cone, for one, spent time with his family in Australia while Philippine Basketball Association players like Chris Ross, CJ Perez, Marcio Lassiter Chris Newsome and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser opted to skip the league’s exhibition matches to recover their bodies.
The same goes for Ravena, who came from a tough campaign for the Shiga Lakestars in the Japan B. League.
“I’m in Manila now. Everyone is enjoying their vacation,” Ravena told Daily Tribune via a Viber message.
“If I’ll be called up, I don’t see any problem (rejoining the practices).”
Ravena is the second abroad-based player to report for national duty.
Filipino-Cypriot AJ Edu formally arrived last Wednesday from a training camp in Australia and expressed readiness to be part of the training camp that will bring Gilas stars to the Baltic region, Latvia and Estonia.
Meanwhile, Japan-based players like Thirdy Ravena, Ray Parks and Dwight Ramos have yet to make their presence felt with barely few days left before the training camp opens.
