After suffering “a non-basketball medical condition,” Justin Brownlee had decided to skip the ongoing Gilas Pilipinas training camp at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna.
Instead, he will fly from the United States to Estonia to join his teammates in the second leg of their preparation for the FIBA Basketball World Cup that the country will host from 25 August to 10 September.
Gilas team manager Butch Antonio made the confirmation to Daily Tribune, saying that they are giving Brownlee ample time to rest and recover as he underwent a non-basketball medical procedure in the US recently.
“Brownlee will join us in Estonia,” Antonio said in a brief message to Daily Tribune.
Also flying solo to Estonia is Brownlee’s fellow naturalized player Ange Kouame, who is set to attend his brother’s graduation at Ateneo de Manila University on 30 June.
Gilas Pilipinas, which had a hard time restarting its training due to the unavailability of some key players, finally holed up at Inspire for a series of closed-door workouts.
Kouame leads the Inspire camp together with six-time Philippine Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar, Jamie Malonzo, Chris Newsome, Poy Erram, AJ Edu, Kiefer and Thirdy Ravena and Rhenz Abando.
Dwight Ramos also entered the training camp on Tuesday, just in time for their departure for the Estonian capital of Tallinn on Thursday.
Chot Reyes is supervising the twice-a-day workouts with Tim Cone, Jong Uichico and Josh Reyes serving as his deputies.
In an Instagram post, Reyes confirmed Antonio’s statement, revealing Brownlee’s plan of meeting them in Estonia.
“For those who are asking, Justin Brownlee had to undergo a non-basketball medical procedure so he will just meet us in Estonia,” Reyes said.
The Filipino cagers are facing a grueling schedule in Europe.
After landing in Tallinn, Gilas will have a seven-hour trip by land for Lithuania, where they are set to face the national teams of Latvia, Finland and Lithuania.
‘Brownlee will join us in Estonia.’
Gilas will return to Manila in the second week of July to resume their training.
Then, they will leave again by the end of the month to play in a pocket tournament in China against Iran, Lebanon and Senegal from 2 to 6 August.
Gilas will wrap up their training in Manila in which they will challenge some World Cup-bound teams in friendly matches before the tip-off on 25 August.
But with the injury bug biting Gilas, coming up with a solid preparation will be easier said than done.
Among those injured are Roger Pogoy, Calvin Oftana, Ray Parks, Jordan Heading and Brownlee while Carl Tamayo pulled out of the pool and National Basketball Association player Jordan Clarkson and Kai Sotto have yet to show up.
PBA commissioner Willie Marcial confirmed that the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas had already requested for additional personnel to fill the dearth created by those injured players.
“We’re still going to talk, but there’s no definite yet on who are the players they wanted,” said Marcial in a telephone conversation.
“But we’re open to it and we will support them.”
