Japeth Aguilar and Matthew Wright have now returned to Gilas Pilipinas and will be leading the Nationals in their 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers match versus Qatar on Monday.
Aguilar and Wright have been slapped with a one-game suspension by FIBA, no thanks to their involvement in Gilas’ brawl with Australia back in the Qualifiers’ third window last July.
The two have already served that ban, as they sat out Gilas’ match versus Iran last Thursday in Tehran.
Aguilar and Wright will be replacing Raymond Almazan and Allein Maliksi.
Meanwhile, Stanley Pringle has taken over Christian Standhardinger’s spot as the team’s naturalized player, just as current Gilas head coach Yeng Guiao had promised before.
Pringle, Wright, and Aguilar will be joining Beau Belga, Alex Cabagnot, Poy Erram, Paul Lee, Marcio Lassiter, Gabe Norwood, Ian Sangalang, Asi Taulava, and Scottie Thompson.
The game, which will take place at the SMART Araneta Coliseum, will be held behind closed doors.
It is a must-win game for the Philippines, as Gilas is now down to third in Group F with a 4-3 record.
Qatar, on the other hand, needs to win this game in order to keep its World Cup hopes alive. The Qataris are sporting a 2-5 record.
