Rain or Shine rookie out for rest of Philippine Cup due to hand injury

MANILA, Philippines — Rain or Shine’s Felix Lemetti was reported out for the remainder of PBA Philippine Cup after suffering a left-hand fracture on June 3, Tuesday, during team practice. 

“It was during practice. I was going up for a rebound and my hand got stuck in a teammate. When I was going up, it just cracked,” explained Lemetti on how he sustained the fracture. 

The 6-foot-2 rookie admitted being disheartened by the abrupt ending to his rookie year in the PBA. 

“It’s tough that it ended right here. I thought it was gonna go well  in the playoffs as well. But a lot of lessons, a lot of ups and downs. Learning how to play in this league and be a professional. I’ll take a lot of lessons with me and I think this sets me up for the next conference.” 

Already playing with an injury-plagued frontcourt, the Elasto Painters’ backcourt will now take a blow with Lemetti on the sidelines. 

“We’ve added minutes to his playing time. We’ve given him a lot of starts sa game namin. Binigyan din namin siya ng opportunity na mag-finish ng mga laro. He was just getting into his groove. Yun epekto medyo bumagal kami. [...] Natural sa kanya na mabilis siya,” Painters coach Yeng Guiao said on losing Lemetti to injury. 

Lemetti's injury could not have come at a worse time for Rain or Shine as it aims to secure a twice-to-beat advantage heading into the playoffs. Guiao will summon the rest of their guard rotation to step up in their remaining games against perennial contenders San Miguel and Barangay Ginebra. -- Ravi Tan, intern