{"id":478568,"date":"2025-11-05T20:41:51","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T21:41:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=478568"},"modified":"2025-11-05T22:18:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T22:18:42","slug":"uncle-speaks-on-awake-katoas-condition-after-horror-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=478568","title":{"rendered":"Uncle speaks on 'awake' Katoa's condition after horror incident"},"content":{"rendered":"

The uncle of Eli Katoa<\/a> has revealed the Tonga star is in a stable condition but asked for more prayers as the second-rower battles to make a full recovery.<\/p>\n

Katoa underwent emergency surgery to ease pressure on his brain following a series of head knocks while playing for Tonga against New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Katoa was rushed to hospital after reportedly having seizures on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

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\"Eli<\/p>\n

He copped a heavy head knock during his team's warm-up yet was cleared to play, but then went on to suffer two more blows to the head, leaving him needing oxygen on the sideline, before being rushed to hospital.<\/p>\n

"At the moment, he's doing much better,'' Katoa's uncle Reverend Setelo told Tongan Radio station PMN.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 Pacific Championships live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

"He has been moved from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to a general ward in the hospital<\/p>\n

"He's awake, recovering well, and being looked after by medical staff. The family is very thankful for all the support, love, and prayers from everyone."<\/p>\n

In the meantime,\ufeff New Zealand coach Stacey Jones backed calls for greater awareness around the dangers of pre-match warm-ups.<\/p>\n

"There should be scrutiny around it," Jones said.<\/p>\n

\"Katoa<\/p>\n

"I don't know what went on, but there has got to be some real good care around the players.<\/p>\n

"We have it at training.<\/p>\n

"But again, I don't know enough to comment on what went on."<\/p>\n

Jones' comments come after fellow Kiwi great Shaun Johnson said earlier this week he was "sick" over the incident and the fallout should see "heads roll".<\/p>\n

Katoa's former teammate at the Warriors, Jazz Tevaga, said the situation should "never have happened".<\/p>\n

"It's very heartbreaking to see for my brother Eli," Tevaga told AAP.<\/p>\n

"I sent him a message and pray he is OK.<\/p>\n

"It shouldn't have happened, but it did happen. All we can do is pray and hope he comes through the other side."<\/p>\n

It's understood \ufeffthe Storm have been in daily contact with Katoa and his family, but there's no set timeline on when Katoa will be discharged from hospital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The uncle of Eli Katoa has revealed the Tonga star is in a stable condition but asked for more prayers as the second-rower battles to […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":478263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=478568"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":478573,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478568\/revisions\/478573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/478263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=478568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=478568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=478568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}