Strong Group Athletics head coach Charles Tiu. Photo by Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News.

Romwel Anzures

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1737448089867IMG_6079.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Strong Group Athletics head coach Charles Tiu. Photo by Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News."/>Strong Group Athletics head coach Charles Tiu. Photo by Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News.MANILA — Strong Group Athletics is set to parade a retooled team in the upcoming 34th Dubai International Basketball Tournament which starts later this week.</div>The Charles Tiu-mentored team settled for silver after a buzzer-beating loss against Al-Riyadi in last year’s championship bout, and they will now be featuring a roster made up of young stars and battle-tested veterans — one that is led by four-time NBA All-Star Demarcus Cousins.And with the way that the team is composed, Tiu is confident that they are ready for another go-around against some of the top international squads in the annual Dubai tournament.“The locals are showing that they can compete, and I think we have a much better team this year,” said the College of Saint Benilde mentor last Sunday during their media availability in Mandaluyong.Aside from their reinforcements in Cousins, the returning Chris McCullough, and Malachi Richardson, Angelo Kouame, Andray Blatche, Rhenz Abando, Dave Ildefonso, Jason Brickman, Allen Liwag, Tony Ynot, and Justine Sanchez complete the team which will compete in Dubai from January 24 to February 2“We really have a good group of local players, and I think that&#x27;s gonna be a big difference for us,” he said of the aforementioned names.Aside from this, the leadership and the prowess that Cousins brings to the table also fuel the confidence that Tiu has in their squad.“I think we have a good relationship,” said Coach Charles. “We&#x27;ve been spending a lot of time here. I&#x27;m really excited to get the chance to work with him, and so far, he&#x27;s been very coachable.”&quot;I have no complaints with the way he&#x27;s conducted himself so far. I think he&#x27;s really good for our team,” he added.For these to work, the only thing that they must do, emphasized Tiu, is to remain healthy as they have been non-stop practicing due to the fewer number of days allotted for their preparations.“Obviously, we just need to stay healthy first,” he pointed out. “We are a little bit cramped up in our preparations, it is much shorter this year, but we can only control what we have, which is our preparations.”“We won’t have a single tuneup game before the tournament so we have to figure things out. Demarcus has been with us for a few days pa lang, but we’ll figure it out. We have a smart group of guys, and we should be ready for the tournament,” Tiu added.SGA will open its campaign on Friday, January 24, against Dubai NT at 11:00 p.m., Manila time. RELATED VIDEO: <script data-wid="auto" type="text/javascript" src="https://content.viralize.tv/display/?zid=AAEyze-tm4MR6kEa&amp;cid=ABTV4n-kmcRRpcsO&amp;activation=click&amp;vip_mode=playing&amp;vip_position=bottom-right"></script>

Strong Group Athletics is set to parade a retooled team in the upcoming 34th Dubai International Basketball Tournament which starts later this week.

Strong Group Athletics is set to parade a retooled team in the upcoming 34th Dubai International Basketball Tournament which starts later this week.

Charles Tiu confident of ‘much better’ SGA-squad’s chances in Dubai tourney | ABS-CBN

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Charles Tiu confident of ‘much better’ SGA-squad’s chances in Dubai tourney

Charles Tiu confident of ‘much better’ SGA-squad’s chances in Dubai tourney

Rom Anzures,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jan 21, 2025 05:15 PM PHT

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