It’s final: June Mar out of nat’l team pool

JUNE Mar Fajardo, the man most awaited by many to join the Gilas Pilipinas pool, finally broke his silence and delivered the bad news himself yesterday.

“I’m apologizing (for not joining the national team) because my injury needs ample time to heal,” Fajardo said in an exclusive interview with Inquirer.net in Cebu yesterday.

“It may take a long time for me to get accustomed to the plays and get into game shape,” the two-time PBA MVP said. “Of course, I want to play for the national team, but I want to be in full health so I can give my all for the country.”

Inquirer.net broke the story yesterday afternoon and, in a sense, it could come as welcome news to the coaching staff headed by Tab Baldwin since they can continue preparing without the talented 6-foot-10 center.

Fajardo, in effect, becomes the second big man that the Nationals have lost this week after the prognosis on Kelly Williams came out.

Williams, also a former MVP, suffered an MCL tear in his right knee and will be out for at least four weeks.

In another development, PBA president and CEO Chito Salud is tinkering with the idea of asking the commitment of the owners of league teams to make available all their players who will be tapped for national duty.

With the Philippines having a 50-50 chance of hosting the 2019 Fiba World Cup, Salud believes that this is the perfect time for the team owners to band together so that the country can form its most competitive lineup.

The PBA board of governors is expected to meet tomorrow in Tokyo after providing moral support for the country’s bid to secure the Fiba hosting bid against lone rival China.

If ever, this will just be the second time in five years that the team owners will meet. They last met early in Salud’s term as commissioner.

“They have always been very supportive every time I ask them for an audience,” Salud said on Tuesday afternoon. “This (PBA) is theirs to begin with, and I am sure that they have nothing but its best interests in mind.”