Carl Tamayo has been ruled out of Gilas Pilipinas Men’s FIBA World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers clash against Iran on Sunday after suffering a left ankle injury.
Tamayo went down with 7:58 left in the third quarter of Gilas’ game against Jordan on Friday after rolling his ankle while driving to the basket. He did not return to the game, and the swelling had yet to subside as of Saturday afternoon.
In his place, Justin Arana will make his national team debut.
Tamayo’s absence will be a blow for Tim Cone, as the forward has emerged as one of Gilas’ key contributors over the last three games of the qualifiers, averaging 5.6 points and 1.7 rebounds per game.
His best outing in the qualifiers came against New Zealand on July 3, when he posted 17 points and four rebounds.
He was on pace to surpass that performance against Jordan, already scoring eight points on 3-of-4 shooting before suffering the injury.
Now, the 6-foot-7 Arana will make his first-ever appearance in a Gilas uniform against Iran.
The rest of the cast remains the same, with Kai Sotto and Kevin Quiambao leading the charge. They will be joined by CJ Perez, Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome, Juan Gomez de Liano, Troy Rosario, and retiring veteran June Mar Fajardo.
Gilas is currently 3-4 in Group E, while Iran sits at 5-2 after dropping a close 93-91 overtime loss to New Zealand.
Iran will also field the same 12-man roster, led by Mohammad Amini and Mohammad Jamshidi, alongside Matin Aghajanpour and Seyed Jafari.
Completing Team Melli’s lineup are Arman Zangeneh, Arsalan Kazemi, Piter Girgoorian, Mohammad Heydari, Salar Monji, Mobin Sheikhi, Hasan Aliakbari, and Alireza Sharifi.
