‘Coach Tim (Cone) will answer all questions after our tuneup game on Monday versus Taiwan.’
ROGER Pogoy (right) joins Sean Chambers and Gilas Pilipinas in their second day of training on Saturday at the Inspire Sports Academy in Laguna.
photograph courtesy of SEAN CHAMBERS/FB
Roger Pogoy showed up on the second day of Gilas Pilipinas training at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba City on Saturday.
Is he joining the national squad?
Gilas team manager Richard del Rosario neither confirmed nor denied the speculation, saying that they will issue an announcement in a press briefing on Monday.
“Coach Tim (Cone) will answer all questions after our tuneup game on Monday versus Taiwan,” said the amiable Del Rosario in a short message to Daily Tribune on Sunday morning.
Pogoy’s inclusion — if ever — will be a welcome development to a Gilas squad that is struggling to stay healthy with barely a couple of weeks left before the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Riga, Latvia.
AJ Edu, the 6-foot-10 slotman, was the first to crash as he has yet to fully recover from the knee injury that also sidelined him in the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifying Tournament last February.
Jamie Malonzo also begged off after suffering a calf injury while playing for Barangay Ginebra in the previous Philippine Cup of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
Recently, Scottie Thompson was also ruled out as he is still nursing a back injury following a grueling campaign in the PBA.
Cone tried to resolve Edu and Malonzo’s absence by giving veteran Japeth Aguilar and Mason Amos of Ateneo de Manila University a call-up.
He, however, couldn’t find a way to untangle the setback brought by the absence of Thompson since time is running out and the possible replacement still has to secure a Schengen visa that will allow him to travel with the team to Turkey, Poland and Latvia before Tuesday.
Initially, Del Rosario stressed that they will leave Manila with an 11-man roster.
But with Pogoy showing up in the second day of training, speculations are ripe that he will replace the injured Thompson in the Gilas roster for the OQT.
After all, Cone has been eager to include Pogoy in the Gilas roster in the Asian Games but the former Far Eastern University (FEU) star begged off due to a heart condition. He also saw action under Chot Reyes with Cone as chief assistant in the FIBA World Cup last year.
“FEU Tamaraws representing Gilas Pilipinas,” FEU coach Sean Chambers said in a post featuring him and Pogoy in Gilas training attire on Saturday. J. MANICAD
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