Cone: ‘We are shooting for gold’
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone is preparing his team for the 2026 Asian Games with the goal of defending their gold medal. Despite facing higher expectations and potential roster changes, the team is focused on building cohesion through upcoming friendly matches.
Why it matters
It highlights the challenges of maintaining championship performance in international sports under increased pressure.
Gilas Pilipinas may be facing a different type of pressure and adversity heading into the team’s title defense in the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games as compared to three years ago, but head coach Tim Cone isn’t selling his crew short and that they will remain shooting for the gold medal.
Cone stressed that the situation of the Nationals this time is entirely different from what they had in the 2023 edition when Gilas hastily formed a team for Asian Games and then eventually delivered far beyond expectations with a gold medal.
“It's a lot different coming in. Nobody had a lot of expectations for us in ‘23 but now that we won it, the expectations are gonna be stronger and bigger,” said Cone on Thursday, Sept. 3.
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