Buoyed by news that Jayjay Helterbrand’s hamstring pull may not be as serious as initially thought, Powerade-Team Pilipinas leaves for the William Jones Cup tournament in Taipei on Friday, putting its worthiness for a forthcoming battle to the ultimate test.

The Philippines opens its campaign in the 9-team, single round-robin competition held in honor of the founding secretary-general of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) against Jordan at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Hsinchuang Gymnasium.

“I wish the Powerade-Team Pilipinas a safe and successful trip and engagement,” said PBA commissioner Renauld ‘Sonny’ Barrios.

“Safe, in terms of staying healthy and away from injury. And successful, in terms of fine-tuning preparations while seeing in action and playing against some of the teams competing in Tianjin. I ask our countrymen to pray for our team.”

Powerade-RP coach Yeng Guiao has called the Jones Cup, which boasts off the men’s team of Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, South Korea, Japan and Kazakhstan, the “real test” vis-à-vis the 25th FIBA Asia Men’s Championship this August in Tianjin, China, which he labeled “the real thing.”

The top three teams in the FIBA Asia tourney will qualify to the 16th World Championship in Istanbul, Turkey next year.

Bracketed in Group A, along with Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Korea and Japan hope to get past the two-round preliminaries.