Romeo still out for Gilas duty this February

Terrence Romeo. Photo from Fiba.com

Terrence Romeo will have to wait a couple more months before he gets to don the national colors anew.

The enigmatic guard remains at the sidelines as he’s still yet to filly recover from his knee contusion injury, rulling him out of the February window of the 2019 Fiba World Cup qualifiers.

“I still can’t play this month,” he shared on Friday.

Romeo’s name was conspicuously absent from the list of players coach Chot Reyes has called up as Gilas Pilipinas resumes it weekly practice sessions on Monday for the second leg of the Asian qualifiers.

The Philippine team will fly to Melbourne when they take on Australia at Margaret Court Arena on February 22 before coming back home to host Japan at Mall of Asia Arena on February 25.

Romeo said he has already talked to Reyes about his status of his knee injury, which is taking longer time to heal than expected.

“I’ve talked to coach Chot about my situation and I told him if he could give me a chance to tryout after the February window. He understood me and he said that he’s not closing the opportunity to anyone. But of course, I need to be deserving by that time,” he said.

Romeo has yet to see action this 2018 PBA Philippine Cup for GlobalPort, leaving much of the load to his backcourt partner Stanley Pringle.

But he’s slowly working his way back to form, focusing on his shooting while he’s not yet to be cleared for high-pressure trainings.

“I’m running bit by bit, but I feel the pressure (on my knees) and it still hurts. I don’t want to force it. I can’t run that much and I don’t have the stamina. Also, I’m not on my best shape for the past month so I have to get myself back in tip-top condition so that when I return, I don’t aggravate my knees,” he said.

“It’s hard to go to war when your opponent is in peak condition while I’m only at 30-to-50 percent.

”ButRomeo guaranteed that he’ll be ready for the third leg of the World Cup qualifiers on June.

“I’ll make sure that by the next window, I’m healthy and is in condition so that I’ll be at 100-percent trying out for the pool,” he said.