MANILA, Philippines — Interim head coach Mark Dickel has appointed Kiefer Ravena as national team captain of the Gilas Pilipinas’ 24-man pool for the first window of the 2020 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.

The NLEX Road Warriors star guard will be leading a squad that consists of PBA stars and collegiate standouts as the national team will open group play in less than two weeks with games against Thailand and Indonesia.

Ravena is a five-time Southeast Asian Games Games gold medalist and had already seen action in the FIBA World Cup as part of the Gilas Pilipinas squad in 2019.

After seving an 18-month ban from FIBA, Kiefer helped the NLEX Road Warriors in his return to become the no. 1 seed in PBA, which also made him a candidate for the Best Player of the Conference (BPC) Award.

The Philippine National team is set to host Thailand on February 20 before flying to Indonesia in Jakarta for a road game which is set on February 23.