A tough decision.
That is how Philippine women’s national volleyball team head coach Jorge Souza de Brito described his decision to replace Deanna Wong with Kyle Negrito ahead of the team’s Brazil training camp.
“I know how hard it is, it’s a tough decision even for me but she’s okay with it,” said Souza de Brito in an interview with Dyan Castillejo of ABS-CBN News.
“She knows she’s a good player but she has to recover first.”
Wong, who was originally part of the 16-man lineup for the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam, was replaced by the back-up Creamline setter Kyle Negrito after injuring her right shin back in Choco Mucho’s Game One semis encounter against Cignal in the PVL Open Conference.
This is the same injury that forced had nagged Wong during her time with Ateneo de Manila University.
“She will not join us in Brazil because she injured her shin. There’s a lot of pain.
“She played a lot of times here in the PVL so she’s feeling pain. It’s an older one, the players in volleyball used to experience that even if you’re younger or not. She has to recover first,” shared Souza de Brito.
“The replacement will be Kyle Negrito. I already talked to her when I heard about [Deanna]. I called first Deanna [and then] after I talked to the manager of Creamline to request her to come and even to the coach also and they said okay so she’s joining us,” he added.
Still, despite missing the Brazil training camp, Souza de Brito is hopeful that Wong can join the national team moving forward.
“We have to keep her out of this training proper, these matches but looking forward in the future, she has to be okay to move forward and play good as she’s doing until now but she has to recover first so she’ll stay.”
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