MERALCO won’t be having two of its top players when it represents the country in the FIBA Asia Champions Cup next week.
Injuries to Ranidel De Ocampo and Jared Dillinger are preventing the two veterans from joining the Bolts in the Thailand meet set Sept. 27 to Oct. 2.
De Ocampo is out with a leg injury, while Dillinger recently underwent procedure to remove bone spurs on his foot.
Coach Norman Black said there is no timetable for the return of the two former national men’s team mainstays, thus ruling them out of the yearly tournament featuring the top club teams from around Asia,
“Frustrating as it may be for myself and the rest of the team, but we don’t even have a timetable for their return right now,” said Black when asked about the health condition of Dillinger and De Ocampo.
“We know it won’t be within the next two weeks, which means the tournament will be over already.”
All the Meralco coach could hope for right now is for both Dillinger and De Ocampo to be healthy enough when the Bolts resume their campaign in the PBA Governors Cup.
So far, it’s been a rough start for the team that made the finals of this same conference twice in a row as it lost three times in a row to tumble in the standings with a 1-3 record.
De Ocampo has only saw limited action in the season-ending meet, while Dillinger has not yet even played at all.
“We’re just hoping they’ll come back in time for us to be able to make a run here in this conference and not get eliminated,” said Black.
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