Veteran Gilas Pilipinas mainstay Marc Pingris will skip Gilas Pilipinas 3.0 as he will try to focus as leader of the Star Hotshots campaign in the next PBA season as confirmed by his agent Ed Ponceja. Based upon the agent’s statement he will accompany Marc Pingris to team practice to formally excuse himself from joining the Gilas Pilipinas pool.
Marc Pingris earlier promised to join the Gilas Pilipinas team practice once he returns from France visiting his father, but he failed to show up during the pool’s workout on Thursday.
The agent of Marc Pingris also revealed that he had a long conversation with the Purefoods Star Hotshots superstar and they discussed about the intentions of Pingris to join the national team but the Star Hotshots also needs his presence, especially since they will be training under new coach, Jason Webb.
The team will undergo a rebuilding phase after losing all their PBA titles last season. Prior the 40th season, Star had a fruitful PBA year by winning a Grand Slam.
The exit of Marc Pingris with the Gilas Pilipinas 3.0 is another setback for the national team which is faced with the prospect of not having the country’s best players on its roster. Other notable members of the national squad who already begged off from national duties are San Miguel’s June Mar Fajardo and Ginebra’s LA Tenorio.