To help the country make the last push to reach the top 24 in the FIBA 3X3 World Rankings, Chooks-to-Go will host the Philippines’ first-ever Challenger tournament.
The Chooks-to-Go Manila Challenger, which is level nine in the FIBA 3×3 hierarchy, takes place September 7 to 8 at the SM Fairview Events Center.
And this is Bounty Agro Ventures Incorporated’s way of giving back to the Filipino people as the company is celebrating its 22nd anniversary on September 2.
“We are celebrating our 22nd anniversary and what better way for our company to give back than by making one last push for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” said Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 league owner and BAVI general manager Ronald Mascariñas.
“We want to bring a quality tournament to the Filipino people.”
The Philippines is currently ranked at 27th in the men’s rankings with 6,748,080 points. The country needs to make it to the top 24 by October 31, 2019 to gain a berth in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
“To put it quite simply, it’s very crucial for us to host a level nine tournament especially in this stage in the race for the FIBA 3X3 OQT,” said Mascariñas, who is grateful to the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas for helping in his company’s bid to host this season’s 23rd of 28 challengers.
“Last April, we hosted the world’s first-ever Super Quest which is a level eight tournament. I would like to thank FIBA for granting us this new opportunity. Even if they already have 27 Challengers in their calendar and still they allowed us to host this one. Also, the SBP has been a huge help in this endeavor,” said Mascariñas.
Three local teams will compete in the meet, namely 27th-ranked team in the world Pasig, President’s Cup champions Isabela City (Basilan), and two-time Chooks 3×3 runner-up Balanga.
Teams that have signed up for this tourney that is a qualifier for the Jeddah Masters that will take place from October 18-19 are world no. 2 Riga of Latvia, no. 5 Amsterdam of Netherland, no. 10 Gagarin of Russia, no. 15 Kranj of Slovenia, no. 25 Ulaanbaatar of Mongolia, and Czech Republic’s Humpolec.
And the local teams vow to not disappoint come the tournament.
“For me, this tournament has been a long time coming for our country,” said Balanga’s Karl Dehesa, who played for Manila North during the 2015 Manila Masters. “The fans will definitely give us a huge boost.”
“For the past year, we’ve been traveling a lot. Though it’s not an excuse, having to travel is very tiring in itself. This time around, we could play our game,” added Pasig’s Dylan Ababou.