Juan Gomez de Liaño will come back home.
The 6-foot combo guard received an invite from the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas to join Gilas Pilipinas’ pool for the first window of the 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, set from February 24-28 at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
And Gomez de Liaño, of course, heeded the call of duty.
“It’s truly an honor to be given the chance to represent my country again,” Gomez de Liaño told Tiebreaker Times. “I’m grateful for Coach Chot [Reyes] and the SBP management for trusting me.
“Just staying ready when the opportunity presents itself.”
Gomez de Liano played three games for Gilas during the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers. He averaged 12.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists in three games played.
The University of the Philippines product was not called up for the Clark window of the Qualifiers and the Olympic Qualifying Tournament-Belgrade.
Gomez de Lianño ended up playing for B.League Division II club Tokyo Z. He played 17 games there before securing his release.
(C) B.League
Now, Gomez de Liaño not only gets a chance to return to the national team, but to be under Reyes – his Gilas head coach during the 2018 Chooks-to-Go Filoil Flying V Premier Cup.
“I’m more than excited to be reunited with Coach Chot and his staff. Ever since 2018 when the SBP group called me up, they believed in what I can do to help the team.”
Gomez de Liano, who is fully vaccinated, will await a negative RT-PCR test result before booking his flight back home. There will be no mandatory quarantine needed once he arrives, but he will have to self-monitor for seven days.
Gomez de Liano joins Angelo Kouame, William Navarro, Jaydee Tungcab, Tzaddy Rangel, and the core of TNT in the pool so far.
