At A Glance
- Meralco Bolts guard Chris Newsome cherishes the opportunity to represent the country under the care of interim head coach Tim Cone as Gilas Pilipinas guns for a podium finish in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China later this month.
By MARK REY MONTEJO
Meralco Bolts guard Chris Newsome cherishes the opportunity to represent the country under the care of interim head coach Tim Cone as Gilas Pilipinas guns for a podium finish in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China later this month.

Newsome expressed his appreciation to the winningest coach in the PBA, noting that the learnings will surely benefit him as a player even after his Asiad stint.
“He’s really clear, whenever he talks to me and wants certain things from me, even whenever there’s times I don’t do the right way, he’ll be the first [to] hold me accountable but at the same time his explaining to me so that way I’m learning and I really appreciate that about coach Tim,” Newsome said on Gilas first practice at PhilSport Arena in Pasig, on Monday, Sept. 11.
“He’s a great mentor to a lot of people in PBA [and] a lot of players that he had, I really cherished the time that I dealt with him and to learn from him and absorb as much information as I can from him,” he added.
"Nonetheless, I’m just happy to be here, blessed to be with all these special guys that we have here and hope we make the country proud,” Newsome said.
The athletic guard is expected to banner Gilas in the quadrennial meet with World Cup veterans June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar, Scottie Thompson and Roger Pogoy. Also included in the initial lineup are Calvin Oftana, returnees Terrence Romeo and Calvin Abueva, newcomers Mo Tautuaa and Jason Perkins, and naturalized players in Justin Brownlee and Ange Kouame.
Ginebra’s Stanley Pringle was the 13th man of the pool as per Cone.
Gilas is bracketed in Group C and will lock horns with Bahrain (Sept. 26), Thailand (Sept. 28) and Jordan (Sept. 30).