Serbian power forward Boriša Simanić underwent another operation on Sunday to have his kidney removed after suffering an injury in the Eagles’ 115-83 victory against South Sudan last Wednesday.
Simanić, who stands at 6-foot-11, received a hit from South Sudanese forward Nuni Omot near the end of the game. The blow was severe enough that Simanić had to be rushed to the hospital immediately after the game.
However, the story did not end there, and the Serbian team released an official statement early Monday about the status of their player.
“The representative of Serbia, Boriša Simanić, who is in the Makati Medical Center hospital in Manila due to an injury sustained in the 3rd round match of the World Cup group stage, underwent another operation yesterday,” read a translated version of the federation’s statement.
“After Simanić was operated on for the first time on the night between August 30 and 31, doctors monitored the postoperative recovery and decided that a new operation was necessary due to complications,” it continued.
“Regarding the new operation and the state of health of Boriša Simanić, the doctor of the Serbian national team, Prof. Dr. Dragan Radovanović, states that, due to complications in the injured kidney that occurred during the postoperative course, Boriša Simanić was operated on again on September 3.
“Due to changes in the vitality of the kidney tissue, the entire kidney had to be surgically removed. We expect and hope that after this operation, the post-operative course will proceed smoothly,” it closed.
The Eagles are now down to 11 players without Simanić in their team. He is a hardworking big man who provides additional height for his team.
For now, the most important thing is that he fully recovers from this incident sooner rather than later and can play competitively again in the future.
As for Serbia, it’s about the next man up, and their performance against the Dominican Republic last night demonstrated this, as they scored 48 points off the bench compared to the Dominicans’ 31.
“This is what every team needs. This is a tournament. I’m very happy with these stats and this information,” said Serbian coach Svetislav Pesic. “You know, in a tournament, you must play every second day. You must practice every day, and as I said before, we had so many problems.
“We lost one player, Simanić, and we played with 11 players. We lost two or three games with Filip Petrusev or Aleksa Avramovic. In this situation, it’s very difficult. It means you need energy, defense, and mental preparation. That means every player, not only the players that start the game but especially the players that come off the bench, are so important, and I’m very happy with the job they did.”
