JUNE Mar Fajardo AUGUST DELA CRUZ
MANILA, Philippines—June Mar Fajardo, the reigning PBA MVP, is a doubtful starter for the South team in the league’s Annual All-Star Game slated this Sunday in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, after suffering a left ankle sprain Tuesday.
Fajardo twisted his left ankle in the first quarter of San Miguel Beer’s 102-91 victory over Barako Bull that kept the Beermen in the hunt for a playoff slot in the Commissioner’s Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Though he was able to walk on his own, Fajardo never returned to the game and went home with a swollen left ankle.
“I don’t know if I can still play (on Sunday),” Fajardo said after the game in Filipino. “It will all depend on the results of the X-rays (and magnetic resonance imaging). If it’s still painful, I won’t force it.
“We have very important games remaining (in San Miguel’s elimination round schedule),” he said.
The 6-foot-10 San Miguel cornerstone was voted to the South’s starting lineup by fans together with the 7-foot Greg Slaughter of Barangay Ginebra, NLEX’s 6-foot-10 center Asi Taulava and James Yap and Marc Barroca of Purefoods at the guard spots.
If Fajardo doesn’t get a clean bill of health, the league will announce his replacement in the first five.
The North squad will be composed of Marc Pingris and Justin Melton of Purefoods, Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar and Alaska dynamo Calvin Abueva.
Former MVP Mark Caguioa, the face of Ginebra for the last decade, is also reportedly nursing a hip injury and, like Fajardo, could be a big absentee.
“I would like to play for the fans who voted for me,” said Fajardo, who hails from a tiny fishing town called Pinamungahan in Cebu. “And I still haven’t been to Palawan.”
The festivities open with the Skills Challenge tomorrow which includes the Obstacle Race, the Three-Point Shootout and the Slam Dunk championship.
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Fajardo twists ankle, doubtful for PBA All-Star Game in Palawan