CEBU – A day after missing the second half of Gilas Pilipinas’ practice owing to a sprained ankle, team energizer Calvin Abueva was finally back in harness, doing things only the man known as ‘The Beast’ can.
Be it diving on the floor for looseballs, clogging up the lane with his cat-quick lateral movement, or meeting Alaska teammate Sonny Thoss at the rim for a tremendous block, Abueva did not exactly look like one who injured his ankle just 24 hours ago that kept him out of the national team’s practice.
No wonder the rest of Gilas has started referring to him as ‘Wolverine,’ the comic book superhero who has the ability to shrug off pain and heal rapidly.
But the comparison between him and the most recognizable member of the ‘X-Men’ ends there as Abueva showed his mortal side when he sat down the moment practice ended still in obvious pain.
His ankle dipped in a bucket full of ice, Abueva was obviously hurting, but managed to grant Spin.ph a short interview.
“Masakit!” remarked the 6-foot-1 forward.
But a swollen ankle is not enough to keep him from attending practice especially with the Fiba Asia Men’s Championship in China less than a week away.
“Kailangan kasi. Baka makalimutan yung ibang plays. Baka mamaya mawala sa middle of the game eh, mahirap na,” said the Alaska stalawart.
With just a few days before training camp comes to a close, Abueva was not the only one who shrugged off injury to join the team in practice as Matt Ganuelas-Rosser was also back in action, a day after skipping the workout due to flu.
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