“Sorry guys for all this… I would like to thank MVP [Manuel V. Pangilinan] and his group, especially Coach Rajko [Toroman] for the opportunity,” he wrote.

“And to clarify, I have a great relationship with Coach and I respect him a lot.”

According to Toroman, the 34-year-old Hontiveros asked to leave the team for the sake of his health.

“He thinks he has health issues and he feels tired from the games that he played. I tried to convince him to stay because he is a player with great character and he is a good player,” said the coach.

A source earlier told InterAKTV that Hontiveros had skipped the last two practices of the squad to rest his body from the “wear and tear.” The veteran international campaigner joined SMART-Gilas in the recent Jones Cup tournament, where the team played a brutal schedule of nine games in nine days. Hontiveros played in all nine games.

No issue with Toroman

Hontiveros’ clarification came on the heels of rumors that he quit the team because he had a strained relationship with Toroman.

Quoting an anonymous source, broadcaster Snow Badua on Friday reported on his Twitter account that the two men didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye.

“Pinagalitan kasi ng todo iyan ni Toroman sa isang laro,” Badua quoted his source. “Hindi niya siguro nagustuhan. Matindi kasi magalit si Toroman. Sagad sa buto.”

“Hindi mo masisisi si Dondon Hontiveros. Baka na-offend siya or may personal reason talaga. Pero malaki siyang vacuum sa team.”

Replacement for Dondon

With Hontiveros leaving, Toroman said that they are looking at tapping an additional member of the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters to reinforce the team. Kelly Williams, Jimmy Alapag, and Ranidel de Ocampo are already scheduled to join the squad, with Ryan Reyes and Larry Fonacier being raised as possible candidates to take Hontiveros’ spot.

The Cebuano hotshot, for his part, also has a list of candidates off the top of his mind when it comes to players who can fill his position for the national team.

“James Yap, Ryan Reyes, Larry Fonacier, Gary David, Ronjay Buenafe, Cyrus [Baguio],” he replied when asked by Twitter follower Bernie Banizo about his choices for his replacement.

source: Jaemark Tordecilla -InterAKTV