MANILA – Will Greg Slaughter be able to play for the Philippines in the 2019 FIBA World Cup Qualifier against Iran on Thursday?
The chances are iffy. The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings center is still sustaining an ankle injury.
Slaughter, who suffered the injury during the Kings’ 104-98 victory against NorthPort Batang Pier, is taking time to heal – and forced to avoid the Philippine team’s practices.
“My ankle injury is taking a slow progress,” the Filipino-American center told SPIN.ph. “I’m still under the doctor’s orders to not mobilize it and just try to control the swelling right now.”
FIBA has recently ruled that Slaughter may suit up for the Philippines as a local player.
“I can’t really say right now. I’m just taking it day by day. I don’t wanna rule anything out now,” Slaughter said of his chances of playing against Iran in Tehran.
“But I’m doing everything I can. Right now, I can’t run or jump but I’m doing everything I can to get the swelling out,” he added.
Slaughter was delighted by the FIBA ruling.
“I just got a lot of relief, you know. I’m just relieved to know that for the rest of my career that I’m eligible to play in our national team,” said the former PBA Rookie of the Year awardee.
If Slaughter recovers in time, he will boost the squad under head coach Yeng Guiao as they face the Hamed Haddadi-led Iran on Sept. 13.
“I really wanted to play and I’m just really disappointed that this have to happen right before we went on the national team break. It was a freak accident landing on someone’s body,” said Slaughter.
“I was really looking forward to this but, you know, right now I’m really happy with the eligibility ’cause now I know that in the future for the rest of my career I look forward to playing on the national team every opportunity I have,” he added./PN
