Chitchai Ananti. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Out to make a name for himself in the international stage, Chitchai Ananti immediately made his presence felt in Thailand’s debut in the 2017 Seaba Championship.
The 26-year-old Ananti unloaded 24 points with eight rebounds and three assists to boot in the Thais’ 74-67 victory over Malaysia on Friday.
His debut, however, was short-lived as he had to be subbed out after seemingly hurting his left leg with 3:23 left in the fourth quarter.
But the swingman quickly shrugged off his injury.
“It was a knee to my calf. I think I should be ok,” he said in his native language, brushing off worries about his availability for Thailand’s coming games.
Despite the win, Ananti shared that he is far from satisfied with the way his team performed.
“It feels a bit out of place. We got the win but it’s not the way we wanted it to be,” he said.
Ananti, though, believes that the tournament opener would allow the Thais to adjust in the coming games.
“I think we better know now what to do in the coming games. We want to focus on our inside players in the next games,” he said.
Thailand plays Vietnam on Saturday before taking on Indonesia on Sunday.