Grind continues: Dwight Ramos braces for ‘tough’ FIBA Asia with Gilas Pilipinas

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‘Our job as the players is to show up and do our best. That's all I'm going to do, I'm going to train, get ready for it, and put my best foot forward for the Asia Cup,’ says Dwight Ramos as he sets his sights on another tour of duty with Gilas Pilipinas

MANILA, Philippines – After another grueling season in the Japan B. League, Dwight Ramos is now setting his sights on his next tour of duty with Gilas Pilipinas.

Ramos – who is back in the Philippines after Levanga Hokkaido’s campaign in the 2024-2025 B. League season ended earlier this month – is bracing for a “tough” FIBA Asia Cup stint with the nationals in August as they will continue to miss the services of their injured center Kai Sotto.

“The Asia Cup is going to be tough, for sure. We don’t have Kai (Sotto), but we’re going to figure it out, see who’s available and who can play,” Ramos told reporters during the B. League Final Week Manila at the Gateway Mall 2.

“Our job as the players is to show up and do our best. That’s all I’m going to do, I’m going to train, get ready for it, and put my best foot forward for the Asia Cup.”

Familiar foes await the Philippines in the Asia Cup which will take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from August 5 to 17 as it is grouped with New Zealand, Chinese Taipei, and Iraq in Group D.

With the 7-foot-3 Sotto out due to the torn ACL he sustained at the start of the year, Ramos and the rest of Gilas Pilipinas suffered back-to-back losses to the Taiwanese and the Kiwis in the third and final window of the Asia Cup qualifiers last February.

Fortunately for the nationals, those two matches were essentially non-bearing as they have already secured a ticket to the Asia Cup prior to the third window after an impressive 4-0 start in the qualifiers. 

“For me, I played with Gilas every year since 2020. Every year, I have to play against New Zealand, so that’s tough. And obviously, we lost to Taipei so we want to get back,” said Ramos. 

Aside from the Asia Cup, the Philippines got bunched once again with New Zealand for the FIBA World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers, together with powerhouse Australia and Guam in Group A. 

The World Cup qualifiers will open in November, with Gilas Pilipinas taking on New Zealand in its first two assignments.  

“Obviously, the World Cup qualifiers, we’ve got a tough group,” said Ramos.

“But it’s just qualifiers, you know. The goal is just to qualify, it’s not to win every single game. Obviously we want to [win every game] but at the end of the day, you just want to qualify,” he added.

Ramos is coming off his fourth season in the B. League, where he averaged a career-best 11.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2 assists in 53 games played for Hokkaido, which failed to advance to the playoffs with a 21-39 record.

He is set to run it back with Hokkaido for the 2025-2026 B. League season after recently signing a contract extension. – Rappler.com