evidence: The campaign told NBC earlier that Burgum suffered a high-grade tear of his Achilles tendon during a game of pick-up basketball with his staff on Tuesday. [...] Burgum is one of eight candidates to meet the Republican National Committee's qualifications for the first debate. The others are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. [...] Burgum, a wealthy businessman who was elected governor in 2016, is widely considered a long-shot presidential candidate. He regularly scores in the low single digits in national polls of the GOP primary field.