Serbian basketball player Simanic loses kidney due to injury at World Cup

The Serbian Basketball Federation has announced that forward Borisa Simanic has lost one of his kidneys as the result of an injury sustained during a World Cup game against South Sudan.

Simanic has been operated on twice in Manila, the team said on Monday.

Additional complications presented themselves after the first surgery, team doctor Dragan Radovanovic said, requiring the second procedure on Sunday where the kidney was removed.

Simanic was injured with just under 2 minutes left in Serbia's win over South Sudan on Wednesday.

South Sudan's Nuni Omot was trying to score under the basket, elbowing Simanic in that process.

Simanic yelled in obvious pain, then fell to his knees a few seconds later. Omot insisted he was not trying to cause an injury.

'Shaken deeply'

“It was really tough for us when we heard what happened," Serbian forward Nikola Milutinov told reporters after the team practiced Monday.

“First, we didn’t believe it was such a bad thing. It's really affected us. We're really praying for him that he's going to be good as soon as possible.”

Milutinov said the incident has shaken the Serbian team deeply.

“We didn’t sleep after that game. We were trying to find blood for him, because he was losing a lot of blood,” Milutinov said.

“It was really a tough moment for everybody. I hope this will never happen to anybody in the world."

The team is not certain when Simanic will be released from the Manila hospital where he is being treated.

Serbia plays Lithuania in a World Cup quarterfinal on Tuesday.