TWO CEBUANOS will be representing the country in an international basketball tournament.
This after Arnie Padilla of the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Magis Eagles and former Cesafi MVP Paul Desiderio now of the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons made the Philippine Under-16 team that will compete in the 3rd Fiba Asia Under-16 Championships tomorrow in Tehran, Iran.
The Philippine team qualified for the competition after sweeping all its games en route to winning the 2013 Southeast Asian Basketball Association (Seaba) U16 Championship last July. The other Southeast Asian squads that will be joining the Philippines in the Fiba tournament are Thailand and Malaysia.
The Nationals have been bracketed in Group D along with Kazakhstan and Chinese Taipei.
Aside from Padilla, the son of former PBA player Onie Padilla, and Desiderio, a former standout of the University of the Visayas, others to make the national team under head coach Jamike Jarin are Diego Dario, Jolo Mendoza, Joseph and Michael Nieto, Lorenzo Fernando, Mikel Panlilio, Jose Go IV, Carlo Abadeza, Richard Escoto and Michael dela Cruz. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio