Camille Naredo

Strong Group-Pilipinas held a media day on August 8, 2026, giving the public a sneak peek at its training at the Active Hoop Arena in Mandaluyong City, in preparation for its upcoming campaign to defend its title in the 45th William Jones Cup. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

Strong Group-Pilipinas held a media day on August 8, 2026, giving the public a sneak peek at its training at the Active Hoop Arena in Mandaluyong City, in preparation for its upcoming campaign to defend its title in the 45th William Jones Cup.

The team is headlined by  former NBA center Boban Marjanović, Fil-Am guard Remy Martin, naturalized big man Malick Diouf, and Puerto Rican forward Isaiah Piñeiro—along with Matthew Wright, William Navarro, Dave Ildefonso, and coach Charles Tiu. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

PH Basketball - STRONG GROUP-PILIPINAS

Paige Javier

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/178626838719520260807-basketball-strong-group-pilipinas-JC8241.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960" alt="Strong Group-Pilipinas holds a media day on August 8, 2026, giving the public a sneak peek at its training at the Active Hoop Arena in Mandaluyong City, in preparation for its upcoming campaign to defend its title in the 45th William Jones Cup. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Strong Group-Pilipinas holds a media day on August 8, 2026, giving the public a sneak peek at its training at the Active Hoop Arena in Mandaluyong City, in preparation for its upcoming campaign to defend its title in the 45th William Jones Cup. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA – Strong Group Pilipinas is not only defending its title in the 45th William Jones Cup—the team is also chasing a historic three-peat in the tournament. </p><p>But with a target on their backs as last year&#x27;s champions, head coach Charles Tiu knows the journey to three straight titles will be far from easy. </p><p>&quot;I think this year, the tournament is much tougher. There&#x27;s a Korean team also. You&#x27;ve got the Jordan national team, UC Irvine, the college team with the 7&quot;9 dude. So, interesting pool of teams now,&quot; Tiu told reporters on Friday in Mandaluyong City. </p><p>&quot;The format, it&#x27;s a different format. We&#x27;re in groups of four. And our group is a bit of a tougher group. Tougher but still exciting. We should be up for the task and hopefully we can compete and represent the country,&quot; he added. </p><p>Some key players from previous championship runs will be suiting up once again like Dave Ildefonso, DJ Fenner, Tajuan Agee and Titing Manalili. </p><p>Former NBA player Boban Marjanovic, Fil-Am guard Remy Martin and Isaiah Piñeiro of the Puerto Rico national team will be reinforcing the squad, alongside veteran Matthew Wright, Will Navarro, Shaun Ildefonso and Gilas Pilipinas naturalized big man Malick Diouf.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/basketball/2026/8/8/boban-marjanovic-ready-to-whatever-it-takes-for-strong-group-pilipinas-0113">READ: Boban Marjanovic ready to do whatever it takes for Strong Group-Pilipinas</a></div><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/basketball/2026/8/8/remy-martin-s-longtime-dream-of-playing-for-ph-is-granted-with-strong-group-1622">READ: Remy Martin&#x27;s longtime dream of playing for PH is granted with Strong Group</a></div><p>&quot;It&#x27;s up to them to compete for the minutes. We&#x27;ll see. You know, the guys are competitors. I like what I&#x27;m seeing in practice so far. Nobody wants to lose. Obviously, this is a challenge so that everybody play, but we&#x27;ve also got some guys that know their roles as a team, which I think is good,&quot; Tiu said. </p><p>&quot;We&#x27;ll figure it out. I mean, it&#x27;s a tournament. You&#x27;re playing eight games in ten days. It&#x27;s never an easy thing. So, I think everybody will have enough opportunity to perform,&quot; he added. </p><p>The young bench tactician said having a former NBA player in Marjanovic is a huge boost to the team, as they are missing the services of Andre Roberson and Ange Kouame. </p><p>&quot;He&#x27;s been great, obviously, being around in the last couple of days. Great guy, fun teammate, but very professional also. Doesn&#x27;t complain, just gets to work. Smart player. So, obviously, it&#x27;s a big plus for us and hopefully it will show in the game,&quot; Tiu shared. </p><p>&quot;[Boban] gives us a different look. Real big guy. It turns out, we may need him kasi there&#x27;s another 7&quot;9 dude in the tournament. Remy, [I&#x27;m] excited to coach him, I know he&#x27;s been wanting to play for the Philippines. We&#x27;ve been talking in the past pero ngayon lang nangyari,&quot; he explained. </p><p>Collegiate standout Allen Liwag will also be sitting out the tournament due to injury. </p><p>&quot;I&#x27;m hoping we can get in shape quickly. This year&#x27;s been a challenge, lots of guys getting hurt, we haven&#x27;t been complete. But we&#x27;ll still compete to our best. We&#x27;re excited, we have a tough group. We wanna defend our crown and hopefully win one more for the Philippines,&quot; Tiu said. </p><p>Tiu, who also coaches the Phoenix Super LPG Fuelmasters, said the Jones Cup coincides with the PBA&#x27;s break for the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers and 20th Asian Games. </p><p>&quot;Thankfully, swak sa schedule ng PBA na may off talaga, wala kaming games. So, I guess, you know, it kind of worked out. But obviously, the priority right now while I&#x27;m here is still Phoenix. That&#x27;s my team. So, you know, we need to win some games in the PBA,&quot; he said. </p><p>&quot;I think pinaalam naman sa PBA, very thankful to the board, through Boss na inaayos naman. So hopefully, wala namang issues,&quot; Tiu added. </p><p>The game of Phoenix against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters set for Sunday was postponed by the PBA due to severe weather.</p><p>The Fuelmasters have one more game on Wednesday against the Magnolia Hotshots at the Ynares Center Antipolo. </p><p>The team is set to fly for Taiwan, where the Jones Cup will be held, on Thursday. </p><p>The 45th William Jones Cup will be held from August 14 to 23 in Taipei City. </p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO: </strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="960" height="540" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ouhMH3NnExk?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Strong Group Pilipinas is not only defending its title in the 45th William Jones Cup—the team is also chasing a historic three-peat in the tournament.</p>

Strong Group Pilipinas is not only defending its title in the 45th William Jones Cup—the team is also chasing a historic three-peat in the tournament.

Strong Group-Pilipinas faces 'tough' Jones Cup three-peat bid

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Strong Group-Pilipinas faces 'tough' Jones Cup three-peat bid

Paige Javier,

ABS-CBN News

Published August 09, 2026 05:43 PM PHT

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Strong Group Pilipinas

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