Ange Kouame gets naturalization clearance from FIBA ahead of Asia Cup Qualifiers

It's official: Angelo Kouame can now suit up for the Philippines.

This is after FIBA, the international governing body for basketball,  cleared the Ivorian-born big man of his naturalization application which now makes him eligible to see action for Gilas Pilipinas in major tournaments.

According to a statement by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) on Saturday, the 23-year-old bruiser got FIBA's nod after securing his Philippine passport last week.

“This decision is consistent with the whole program because it’s a vision to the future,” said Gilas Pilipinas program director Tab Baldwin.

“We’ll try to accomplish short-term goals while we’re really focusing on our long-term objective of forming a Gilas team that can genuinely compete with top 10 teams in the world come 2023.”

With Kouame in the fold, the Filipinos could make a big run in the third and final window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers next week in Clark, Pampanga where they would face South Korea on June 16 and 20 while taking on Indonesia on the 19th.

The nationals only need a win to advance to the next stage.

Kouame will also be a big boost to a depleted Gilas pool that already lost marquee players in Matt Nieto (broken hand), Dave Ildefonso (bone bruise-foot), and Rey Suerte (sprained ankle) to injuries.

The Ateneo slotman will also get tested early as he will be facing high-caliber naturalized players like Ricardo Ratliffe and Lester Prosper.

“While we know that Ange is not at that level now, we also know that the Milwaukee Bucks have scouts watching him. We know the potential is there but potential takes time to evolve and be realized with a lot of hard work and Ange has never been afraid of putting in that hard work,” Baldwin continued.

“I’ve always said it’s easier to learn from failure than it is to learn from success and I expect he’s going to have considerable failures over the next couple of years but all of that is going to be a part of his education to become an elite Gilas player for many years to come.”

—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA News