THERE’S no doubt June Mar Fajardo had added motivation in Gilas Pilipinas’ game against Chinese Taipei on Friday in the 2019 Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers.
The reigning four-time PBA MVP was met by a plesanant surprise upon arriving at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium: girlfriend Aerieal Patnongon was there to support Fajardo and the Philippine national team.
But the Cocolife middle blocker admitted that pulling off the surprise wasn’t an easy one.
“Last minute lang ako nag-decide na pumunta nung nalaman ko matagal pa next game namin after our Thursday game,” said the volleybelle, pointing out that the Asset Managers’ next game against Smart is not until July 5.
After Cocolife’s four-set defeat to Sta. Lucia Lady Realtors in the 2018 Philippine Superliga Invitational Conference at Strike Gym in Bacoor, Patnongon got home at 12:30 a.m. and immediately booked a trip to Taipei.
She only had an hour and a half of sleep before leaving for the airport at 3 a.m. to catch the early morning flight.
Arriving in Taiwan at 11:30 a.m., she no longer had time to check in to the hotel and went straight to the venue to face another challenge, finding a ticket for the sold-out event.
“Naghanap pa kami ng scalper para lang makakuha ng ticket,” she said.
Fajardo was left stunned just moments before tip-off.
“Wala na siyang nasabi. Kiniss na lang ako tapos nag-hug,” she said giddily.
With Patnongon cheering him on from ringside, Fajardo went on to have his finest performance in a Gilas jersey, posting 22 points and four rebounds in the Philippines’ 93-71 rout of Chinese Taipei.
He was a plus-23 for Gilas in his 20 minutes of action.
Elated that she was able to give her beau a huge boost, Patnongon said: “Masaya ako na na-pull off ko yung surprise kay June Mar, pero mas masaya ako na maganda ang nilaro niya at nanalo yung team."
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