After the management of Pocari Sweat and Creamline decided to not let their players take part in the fund-raising Clash of Heroes event, the Bali Pure Purest Water Defenders followed suit, announcing that Grethcel Soltones will not be able to participate in the event.
“We regret to inform you that Ms. Grethcel Soltones will not be able to participate in the Clash of Heroes event,” Bali Pure team manager Paolo Turno said in a statement.
The main reason the team cited for their decision was that they were not given a formal invitation nor given due courtesy for their open spiker’s participation.
“Though we are ardent supporters of Philippine Volleyball, we were not formally informed or given due courtesy of the participation of Ms. Soltones in the said event,” the statement furthered.
And with the Reinforced Conference entering its crucial stages and the uncertainty of import Jeng Bualee’s ITC release, the team does not want to risk the three-time NCAA Most Valuable Player.
“Given the delay and uncertainty in the release of the ITC of our foreign players, the team is more than ever counting on the leadership of Ms. Soltones to help steer the team in the Premier Volleyball League. Had we been informed to ask Ms. Soltones to join the said event, then we could have made the necessary adjustments in our preparation for our games in the PVL,” Turno stressed.
“Team BaliPure will have a crucial game on the 16th of May. Ms. Soltones is expected to play a vital role both in the preparations for the said game as well as the game itself. Needless to say, she needs to concentrate her efforts on BaliPure for the time being.”
Still, the franchise is hoping that both the Larong Volleyball ng Pilipinas Inc. and the organizers of the event understand the decision they had to make.
“We hope that the LVPI and the organizers of the event understand and respect this decision. We sincerely would like to assure them that BaliPure is continuously committed to providing support to Philippine Volleyball in as much as it pragmatically can,” the statement closed.
“As always, we remain supportive of our country’s aspirations to have a National Volleyball Team capable of bringing honor to the Philippines.”
