June Mar Fajardo —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/ELVIS ŽALDARIS

As anticipation for a returning Gilas Pilipinas big man continues to swell, members of the program heaped praises on an aging standout who has been nothing short of solid in the team’s preparations for the Fiba (International Basketball Federation) World Cup.

June Mar Fajardo, coming off a knee problem that kept him from two key tournaments, including Gilas’ redemption bid in the Southeast Asian Games, figured prominently for Gilas in its training camp in the Baltics earlier this month.

“Watch any of the games we played out there, June Mar was actually dominating,” Gilas deputy coach Tim Cone said in a chat with reporters recently.

“There was nobody in Europe that could stop him. He was going up against 7-footers, 6-foot-11, 6-foot-10 guys and dominating. He’s given us great hope going into this that he can fill out that position well and he’s doing it on both sides [of the court]—defending well and scoring,” he added.

Program cornerstone Dwight Ramos also spoke highly of Fajardo, lauding the six-time PBA Most Valuable Player not only for his fine play but also for his leadership.

“I’ve been really impressed with June Mar,” he said in a separate interview shortly after one of Gilas’ practices at Meralco Gym in Pasig City.

“I’ve seen him before and in the last (Fiba Qualifying) window and he’s completely changed. He’s running up and down, his body is really solid and he’s been working hard, showing the way,” he said.

Two-time veteran

Fajardo, a two-time World Cup veteran, was hardly a presence against Lebanon and Jordan in the sixth and final window of World Cup Qualifiers. He then sustained a medial collateral ligament injury days later in the East Asia Super League’s Champions Week in Japan that led to his shutdown for the remainder of the PBA Governors’ Cup.

Fajardo, who has come back from a career-threatening fractured tibia during the height of the pandemic, has made that lackluster performance and that knee issue distant things of the past now.

“I’m much more confident now,” the soft-spoken Fajardo told the Inquirer in Filipino. “I really just have to keep my conditioning up, because that’s one of the biggest factors for this (resurgence).”

“I understand that these World Cups don’t come too often. And we’re even hosting one. So I need to be ready for it. We’re going up against elite competition, too.”

“He’s doing these June Mar things,” said Cone.   Fajardo rounding into form comes at a time when Gilas has been anxiously waiting for Kai Sotto, the young 7-foot-3 center, who is being eyed to make the squad for the event that tips off next month.

“I’m really excited about it,” Fajardo said of Sotto, whom the Gilas brain trust “fully expect” to be at practice on Monday.