Kai Sotto undergoes checkup as Gilas Pilipinas awaits his status for FIBA OQT

Kai Sotto was rushed to the hospital on Thursday after Gilas Pilipinas' loss to Georgia, 96-94, in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

Gilas head coach Tim Cone revealed the development on Thursday.

Sotto had a collision with Joe Thomasson at the 6:42 mark of the second period and the latter was slapped with an unsportsmanlike foul. 

The big man eventually went out of the court and was not able to see action anymore in the game. However, he was still in the bench until the end of the match.

"We lost Kai Sotto early and never got him back into the game. He is in the hospital checking out his rib. Whether it's X-ray, we don't have any news on that yet whether how far he'll be able to go forward," Cone said in the post-game conference.

Cone also praised his bench as they stepped up in Sotto's absence.

"But the fact that we lost him as well and still was able to find our way back in the game, we got some really good bench production from Carl Tamayo, CJ Perez, Kevin Quiambao and Japeth Aguilar, our veteran, our captain, really stepped into the void and gave us big minutes in what would've been Kai's minutes," the Gilas head coach added.

Sotto had four points in 11:49 minutes of action.

Despite the loss, Gilas still advanced to the semifinals of the Olympic qualifier.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News