JAPETH Aguilar and Christian Standhardinger will skip the first window of Gilas Pilipinas in the Fiba Asia Cup 2021 qualifiers, national team program director Tab Baldwin confirmed on Thursday.
Baldwin said Aguilar will not be playing for Gilas Pilipinas as he is on a honeymoon after getting married recently, while Standhardinger is still rehabbing a leg injury that has been bothering him for quite some time now.
“Japeth is out. He has informed us that he is going on a delayed honeymoon. Congratulations to him. It’s always nice to go on a honeymoon. We all wished we could go to another one. He is not available for the first window,” said Baldwin.
Standhardinger was present during Thursday’s practice with Gilas Pilipinas, the first in preparation for the Fiba Asia Cup 2021 qualifiers first window, but was in street clothes.
“Obviously, Christian has gone through his issue and that’s very real. We understand that. We don’t want to put any player in jeopardy because he is rehabbing an injury and he is on a specific time table. We just have to accept that for this window and understand that,” said Baldwin.
Aguilar was fresh from his stint with Barangay Ginebra in the finals of the PBA Governors’ Cup where he won the Finals MVP for the first time in his career.
Standhardinger, meanwhile, is also coming off a successful campaign in the Governors’ Cup where he captured the Best Player of the Conference plum in his first conference with NorthPort.
Gilas has started preparing for the coming Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers window where the Philippines will take on Thailand on February 20 and Indonesia on February 23.
In the first practice, PBA players Mac Belo, Matthew Wright, and Parks, and Justine Baltazar were not around but Baldwin said they are expected to be present in the coming days.
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