Members of the Perlas Pilipinas team pose before leaving for the SEABA Championship in Malaysia. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
The Philippines will have to make do without one of its mainstays in the 2016 Seaba Women’s Championship in Malacca City in Malaysia.
Fil-Nigerian Ewon Arayi will miss the regional tiff as she was forced to sit the competition out after being diagnosed with dengue last week.
Though Arayi has already recovered and was able to join the team in Malaysia, doctors did not given her the clearance to play.
“Kaya ko na nga maglaro, kaso lang yung doctor namin sa Navy ayaw ako bigyan ng clearance. Gusto nyang magpahinga pa ako,” she said, as Arayi will be replaced by Andrea Pontejos in coach Patrick Aquino’s roster.
Still, that doesn’t deter the Filipinas as they open their bid on Tuesday against Singapore, the team’s first competition since last year’s Fiba Asia Championship for Women in Wuhan, China, where the country advanced to Level I.
Bolstered by former UAAP Most Valuable Player Afril Bernardino and NU center Jack Animam in the seven-nation tourney, Perlas Pilipinas is eyeing to reclaim the title they last won in 2010 in Manila.