Romeo vows Gilas return

Terrence Romeo vows to return to action for Gilas Pilipinas once he has fully recovered from a knee contusion that forced him to miss the first window of the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers.

Romeo failed to appear in majority of Gilas practices leading up to the qualifiers to undergo therapy on his injured knee that actually affected his play for GlobalPort late in the PBA Governors' Cup.

“Ngayon mga brother (ko sa Gilas) hindi niyo man ako kasama lumaban dyan lagi kayo kasama sa mga dasal ko, yun lang muna maitutulong ko sa ngayon,” Romeo said in a lengthy Instagram post which came out Friday afternoon.

“At kagaya ng sinabi ko kay (Gilas) Coach Chot (Reyes) nung nag paalam ako, hindi po ito yung huling pag kakataon na mag lalaro ako para sa bayan. Pag 100% na ako mag ta try out ulit ako at kung deserving parin ako by that time, buong PUSO parin ako na mag lalaro para sa bansa,” he added.

The post allowed Romeo to break his silence after weeks of uncertainty. His status for the qualifiers was confirmed when the ace scorer failed to join the team for its flight to Tokyo where Gilas opened the qualifiers Friday with a 77-71 win over Japan.

“Gusto ko lang po sagutin sa mga nag tatanong kung bakit hindi ako nakasama sa Gilas; injured po ako at kailangan ko mag pahinga at therapy,” Romeo said at the start of his post. “Gusto ko rin sabihin at ipaalam sainyo na wala pong makakapigil sakin sa pag lalaro para sa bayan maliban sa injury, at kay God.

“Alam po yan ng family ko at lahat ng taong nakakakilala sakin, malaki ang utang na loob ko sa Gilas dahil dito ako mas naging disiplinado at dito napabilis ang pag mamature ko sa basketball at dito rin na buo yung samahan namen, hindi lang bilang teammates kundi bilang mag kakaibigan, mag kakapatid at isang family na handang lumaban para sa isat isa.”

— JONAS TERRADO