JAKARTA—An ankle sprain has prevented former 2-time PBA MVP James Yap from seeing action in the Philippines’ last two games in the 2018 Asian Games here.

Yap was one of the heroes in the Philippines’ victory over Kazakhstan to open their campaign, but sat out the heartbreaking 91-82 loss to South Korea Monday and was also a DNP when the squad bounced back by crushing Japan 113-80 Tuesday.

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“James Yap is injured, he has an ankle injury. We did not want to aggravate it,” coach Yeng Guiao bared after the triumph over Japan, which put them on track for a fifth-place finish in the tournament.

“It's been there since the Korea game, so we did not want to risk it today. He told me there's some pain in the ankle. If I needed him, he could play, but if it was not really needed, we did not want to take that risk.”

Yap later said that he badly wanted to play against Japan, but was simply in too much pain.

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“Baka next game na lang, against Syria,” he said.

“Ginawa ko naman lahat. Gust ko talaga makatulong,” added Yap, who revealed that he had taken painkillers but still could not move as well as he would want.

“Ayun, kaya malungkot ako, pero at least kahit papaano, gusto ko makatulong sa team. Sana next game, makalaro ako,” he said.

Syria sealed its showdown against the Philippines by beating host country Indonesia, 76-66, on Tuesday night.

A victory over Syria on Friday will give the Philippines its best finish in the Asian Games since 2002.

(For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website.)