He may have yet to spend a full year in the Philippines, but Christian Standhardinger already has a lot of Gilas Pilipinas stints under his belt.
The Filipino-German forward will represent the Philippines for the fourth time in less than a year, as he was included to the Gilas squad that will see action in the FIBA 3×3 World Cup slated this June in Bulacan.
“I’m very proud to play for the country,” shared Standhardinger, whose mother hails from Angono, Rizal.
“I hope to get the represent the Philippines more.”
After Standhardinger made his Gilas debut during the 2017 Jones Cup, he was immediately tasked to join the seniors team for the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup. When Gilas vowed out of contention, he, together with Carl Cruz, was flown from Lebanon to Malaysia to make it in time for the 2017 SEA Games.
This particular stint of his is somehow different from what he has had before. This time, the 6-foot-8 bruiser is attending practices twice in a day — one for the 3X3 team, and another for his mother team, the San Miguel Beermen.
The 28-year-old big man is now in the same predicament such as his 3×3 teammates in Troy Rosario and Roger Pogoy, who are both veteran internationalists already. But Standhardinger has no qualms, as it’s all for the country.
“It’s good,” expressed the 2017 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist. “You see us there working very hard even after our regular team practices.
“That’s what you sacrifice and that’s what you want to do for the country.”
The squad is highly expected to perform and deliver in the annual showpiece, as the Philippines had failed to advance in the last two editions of the 3X3 World Cup, finishing just third in the group stages on both instances.
So for the first overall pick in the 2017 PBA Draft, he hopes that all of their sacrifices will pay off and lead to the desired result.
“I hope that we can get some results… I’m very optimistic.”
