ARG – Manu fear over ankle injury

BEIJING (Olympics) – Manu Ginobili will not play in the bronze medal game at the Olympics with Argentina because of the ankle injury that knocked him out of Friday’s 101-81 defeat to the United States.

The South American giants will take on Lithuania on Sunday.

"Only a miracle would allow me to go on the court,” said Ginobili, who had been one of the leading players at the Beijing Games before going down in the first quarter against Team USA.

"I would need to wake up really good. I would need to be in good form to play.”

The injury, which occurred in the NBA play-offs, left Ginobili’s Olympic participation in doubt but he recovered and went on to lead Argentina to second place in Group A behind Lithuania – the only team to beat them in the preliminary round .

Argentina then defeated Greece in a thrilling semi-final before losing to the United States.

Ginobili says he has been devastated by the recurring injury.

"This is one of the worst situations in my career,” he said.

Ginobili added he is "prepared" in case he needs to undergo surgery. He has also revealed that he called San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich when the game against the USA had ended because his boss was watching the game and knew that he would be worried.

FIBA