Kai Sotto made his return to the country Tuesday night to begin a quarantine period prior to joining Gilas Pilipinas’ preparation for this month’s third and final window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
The 7’3” youngster, who took a break from the G-League Ignite, posted a photo of himself exiting Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport following a lengthy travel from the United States.
Sotto, who was joined in the trip by his father Ervin, is mandated to undergo quarantine for about a week and will need a negative COVID-19 test result before he can participate in the Gilas training bubble at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba City, Laguna.
He and Gilas are scheduled to leave for Doha, Qatar two weeks from now to compete in the last installment of the continental qualifiers set Feb. 18 to 22.
The Philippines was supposed to host its own group in Clark, Pampanga but later decided to cancel those plans due to travel restrictions caused by the spread of several COVID-19 variants. Sotto elected to reinforce Gilas for the window despite his upcoming stint for the Ignite in the NBA G-League season under a bubble setup in Orlando, Florida.
He will miss the first few games of the G-League campaign, and possibly even more depending on how fast Sotto can rejoin the Ignite.
