Playing collectively is nothing new for AJ Edu and Kai Sotto as the 2 rising cagers suited up for the Gilas Pilipinas youth workforce in the course of the 2018 FIBA Under-18 Asian Championship, the place the Philippines completed fourth to qualify to the 2019 FIBA Under-19 World Championship.
Unfortunately for the duo, Edu was not in a position to end the tourney as a consequence of an harm.
But 4 years later, the 2 met once more as they now banner the seniors workforce within the ongoing 2023 FIBA World Cup right here in Manila.
And Edu couldn’t assist however relish the chance to play alongside his good pal as soon as once more.
“I love playing with Kai. He’s a player that makes everyone better,” Edu mentioned on Tuesday.
“I love playing with him since junior level and I enjoy the fact that we’re still playing at the highest level.”
The 23-year-old Edu had been working his manner for the previous years, recovering from the knee harm he sustained whereas additionally ending his research on the University of Toledo with an accounting diploma.
As he makes his seniors debut, the 6-foot-10 has been nothing in need of revelation within the World Cup, averaging eight factors, 6.3 rebounds, 0.7 assists, and 1.3 blocks in three video games performed within the group stage.
He was additionally pitted in opposition to a few of the finest huge males within the group like Karl-Anthony Towns of Dominican Republic and Bruno Fernando of Angola.
Read extra | Karl-Anthony Towns on ‘extremely competitor’ AJ Edu of Gilas: ‘He makes me higher’
Sotto, in the meantime, is averaging 3.3 markers, 3 boards, 0.3 dimes, and 0.3 blocks, together with a strong eight-point, six-rebound efficiency in opposition to Angola.
Edu and Sotto, although, will not be advancing to the following spherical after Gilas fell to powerhouse Italy to formally bow out of rivalry and end with a winless 0-3 slate in Group A.
But their marketing campaign isn’t over as they are going to nonetheless head into the classification spherical, which could nonetheless decide the Best Asian workforce that can earn the allotted slot within the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“Tough loss but I’m really proud of the game. I think we really showed a lot of heart over this group phase and things didn’t go our way but we gotta keep our heads up,” Edu added.
“We have two games left for the classification for the Olympics and a spot is still up for grabs so we gotta keep fighting.”
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
