His decision to put up a business was justified when he suffered a thyroid problem during last season’s PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals.
If basketball were an Avengers movie, Father Time is Thanos: It’s inevitable. While Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has done a splendid job of staving it off, everyone, eventually, will succumb to that.
That’s why Magnolia Hotshots big man Ian Sangalang is already preparing for life after basketball with a business he and his wife, Pauline Eunice, put up a year ago.
It’s called Wings 2 Go, a restaurant in his hometown of Angeles, Pampanga serving pizza, pasta, and, guess what, chicken wings.
His decision was justified when Sangalang suffered a thyroid problem during the last season’s PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals.
It was a career-threatening disease that saw the 10-year veteran become a non-factor in that series against eventual champion Barangay Ginebra San Miguel. In the season-ending Governors' Cup, he sat out all games but the opener. He has also yet to suit up for the team in the ongoing PBA on Tour.
“Sabi ko ‘yun nga, hindi mo maiiwasan ‘yung mga nangyayaring ganito. Kaya habang maaga, susubok tayo. Mas maganda na makasubok tayo habang may dumarating kesa susubok tayo kapag wala na dumarating,” he told One Sports.
“Siyempre mababaon ka na nun. Ngayon at least kung may mangyari, hindi tayo umasenso, meron pa ring dumadating sa’tin. So, I decided na magtayo nito.”
Fortunately for the Sangalang patriarch, business is booming.
This was the Magnolia star’s first venture into business. But it definitely would not be the last. Sangalang said he is also looking to expand his current business or find another opportunity.
“Kung may chance na may pwedeng maging business pa o kung may ma-add kami dito, makabili pa kami ng commercial lot, why not diba? Mas marami, mas maganda,” he said.
(GM)