Castro, Blatche apologize for Gilas Pilipinas brawl vs. Australia

Gilas Pilipinas players have expressed their apologies on their social media accounts after a massive brawl broke out between the Philippines and Australia at the FIBA Basketball World Cup matchup at the Philippine Arena on Monday night.

Team captain Jayson Castro apologized for those who got disappointed over the event, explaining he only did his part in not allowing his teammates to get injured.

Gusto kong humingi ng sorry sa lahat ng nadissapoint sa laro kanina. Ginawa lang namin part namin as a teammate/kapatid kahit sino naman hindi hahayaaan masaktan ang kasama! Laban lang! ????????

— Jayson Castro (@jaywill_17) July 2, 2018

In the brawl, Castro was seen delivering a "flying" punch to Australia's Daniel Kickert, who retaliated to Roger Pogoy when he gave Chris Goulding a hard foul.

Kickert also allegedly hit some Gilas Pilipinas players during the warm-ups.

Andray Blatche expressed the same sentiments "to protect our brother."

 

Sorry to my Filipino family Australia my family back home and my son

A post shared by Andray Blatche (@draylive) on

Jul 3, 2018 at 1:16am PDT

"[T]hat's how we are as a team family I seen one of my brothers hit and wrong decisions was made in the heat of the moment it was a very high intensity game with a lot of emotions..."

"I wanna apologize to my team mates and the [Australia] team for my wrong doings I have a son and that's not [what] I want him to follow behind," Blatche continued.

Gilas assistant coach Jong Uichico had already apologized after he was seen stomping a chair at someone on the ground.

Tonight, my emotions got the better of me like a father who cares about his sons. That does not excuse my actions and I apologize to everyone as in hindsight I should have not gotten involved. This is a painful but maybe necessary lesson for me.

— Jong Uichico (@coachjong) July 2, 2018

—Jamil Santos/NB, GMA News