ILOILO City – Elite Lab’s Irele Galas is now conscious in a hospital after being elbowed near the head during their 85th Iloilo City Charter Day Basketball Tournament game on Tuesday night here.
The Negrense forward was a receipient of a hard elbow hit near his head from Jun Biron Barotac Nuevo Starr’s JJ Gerochi with just two minutes in the game and Elite Lab ahead by 20 points.
Galas went down lying on the floor for several minutes following Gerochi’s come-from-behind elbow attack before the former was stretchered out of the court.
“Very unfortunate na may ganitong incident sa isang basketball tournament organized by the local government,” Elite Lab team manager Eugene Chua told Panay News on Wednesday.
“In fact, this is not the first time that our players received dirty hits in this tournament but the organizers have no action or sanction,” he added.
Chua further said they are now considering legal action.
“I must admit that we play physical at times but not dirty. It is different. We instill character in our players that they should not go beyond the rules of basketball,” Chua said.
Von Fernandez, who served as the commissioner of the Charter Day basketball, said they are reviewing the incident and sanctions will be handed out.
“We are reviewing the entire game as well as the clip of that particular incident. We will definitely put out sanctions on those needed to be punished,” Fernandez said.
“The teams participating in Iloilo City Charter Day Basketball Tournament can be assured that we will not condone such incidents that are unnecessary in this sport,” he added./PN
