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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Cone hoping to have Kai Sotto back in time for World Cup qualifiers

Cone hoping to have Kai Sotto back in time for World Cup qualifiers

Published May 18, 2025 03:22 pm

At A Glance

  • Kai Sotto has proven to be a pillar to the current composition of Gilas Pilipinas so its only natural for head coach Tim Cone to hope to have his 7-foot-3 center back in the lineup for the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers.
Kai Sotto (Mark Balmores/MB)
Kai Sotto (Mark Balmores/MB)

Kai Sotto has proven to be a pillar to the current composition of Gilas Pilipinas so its only natural for head coach Tim Cone to hope to have his 7-foot-3 center back in the lineup for the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers.

The Nationals were drawn to a tough group along with Australia, New Zealand and Guam in the first phase of the qualifiers but Cone believes beating the powerhouse teams is a doable task especially if Sotto is anchoring the paint.

“I'll say it with Kai we can beat anybody. We have proven that we played the No.6 team in the world in their house and we beat them. We can beat anybody if we get Kai out there back,” said Cone.

The veteran mentor isnt talking from a baseless point though – not when Gilas has actually beaten New Zealand just recently – ending an eight year drought against the Tall Blacks – with Sotto leading the way.

Sotto finished 19 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists as Gilas pulled off a 93-89 win over New Zealand last November.

Further solidifying the point was Gilas performance in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying tournament where Sotto just due to his sheer length, helped the Filipinos to a stunning 89-80 victory over world no.6 Latvia.

Those, however, came way before Sotto suffered an ACL injury early this year and he's expected to make a full recovery by October barring any setbacks. 

The first window of the qualifiers is set in November.

“We’re hoping to get Kai back at some point during that time. We've heard that he might be back in late October. There might be enough time for him to get into the first window,” revealed Cone.

The absence of Sotto, however, was a huge blow to Gilas and it was very evident in the final window of the Asia Cup qualifiers where it lost back-to-back games including an upset defeat against Chinese Taipei.

“We proven that we can beat anybody  but we’ve also proven, by losing to Taiwan, that anybody can beat us so that’s all about the preparation and getting together to make sure we are prepared as possible,” he added.

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