Gilas Pilipinas will be another man short as Roger Pogoy is ruling himself out of the FIBA World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers’ sixth window next week.
The veteran internationalist said that he would need to rest for a week or two after suffering a bone bruise on his left ankle during TNT’s PBA Governors’ Cup encounter versus Meralco last Friday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
He no longer played in the second half of that eventual win, and sat out the Tropang Giga’s match versus San Miguel on Sunday due to the injury.
“Masakit talaga,” said Pogoy moments after their 105-103 win at the Philsports Arena in Pasig. “Hindi ‘yung maga ‘yung sakit e, ‘yung may dito sa loob ng buto. So tingin ko talaga kailangan ipahinga. ‘Di talaga kaya this week, sa Gilas.”
The Cebuano star said that he could still play through the pain if it was only sore but a bone bruise is much more difficult to bear.
“Kaya ko sana eh. Kung maga-maga lang, kaya ko. Kaso nga ‘yung dito nga, paloob, ‘yung sa loob, parang bone bruise daw sabi. Kasi dati pinapagpag ko lang ‘to eh, ngayon talaga hindi ko kaya ipagpag,” he said.
The development is indeed another tough blow for the Nationals, who are already without Japeth Aguilar due to an MCL sprain.
Pogoy lamented the missed opportunity to once again play on home soil — Gilas is hosting Lebanon and Jordan at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan.
“‘Yun nga eh, sarap sana maglaro, ‘pag homecourt eh,” said the 30-year-old, who’s averaging 8.0 points and 3.0 rebounds in the Qualifiers.
“Kasi ‘yung last laro ko, dun pa sa Jordan at Saudi — pero parang homecourt naman ‘yun eh, nung naglaro tayo sa Saudi. Pero sarap sana talaga maglaro rito, sa homecourt natin,” the FEU product closed.
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
