The PBA’s 40th season is just a week old, but players have already been hit with the injury bug.
Paul Lee, Chris Tiu and Ryan Arana have been playing hurt for Rain or Shine, and the latest casualty is Ian Sangalang of grand slam champion Purefoods Star.
Good news for Rain or Shine: According to head coach Yeng Guiao, Lee, whose knee was hyperextended, might be back for the Elasto Painters’ next game after doctors discovered that his injury wasn’t serious.
Chris Tiu will be out for two to four months and the Rain or Shine star point guard said it was an old hamstring injury that he aggravated. “Mahirap kasi dito sa hamstring pabalik-balik,” Tiu told Tiebreak Times.
Ryan Araña also suffered from a similar case and will be out for a few more weeks.
But the bad news came from the Purefoods side as Sangalang tore his ACL, an injury that will sideline him for six to eight months, according to head coach Tim Cone. Sangalang, who hurt his knee after a rebound battle with Alaska’s Sam Eman, was one of the key players of the squad during the team’s grand slam campaign. Without Sangalang, the Hotshots’ frontline is weakened even more as Marc Pingris is also on leave.
