The national men’s wheelchair basketball team breaks the ice for the Philippines against host China at the start of the 4th Hangzhou Asian Para Games basketball tournament at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium on Thursday.

The Filipino cagers, who will make their debut in the continental meet, take to the floor against the Chinese at 4:15 p.m.

Coach Vernon Perea said the team will be bent on stifling the reputed lethal outside shooting of their hosts in opening Group A action.

“If we can defend well against the outside shooting of the Chinese, we may have a chance against them. But admittedly it will be a hard and tough match for us,” said Perea.

The "Pilipinas Warriors" earned their trip to Hangzhou after finishing third in the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation Asia-Oceania Championships last May in Suphanburi, Thailand behind Kuwait and Thailand.

This success was followed by the squad nabbing a pair of silvers in the men’s 3x3 and 5x5 competitions of the Cambodia ASEAN Para Games a month later.

In the build-up to the Hangzhou Asian Para Games, Perea’s charges captured the bronze medal in the Yutaka Nakamura Asian Dream Cup International Wheelchair Basketball Tournament in Japan last July.

Perea bared that they wound up in a tough group that also includes Iran, Thailand, Afghanistan in the outing.