Team PH exits early out of 2019 FIBA 3×3 World Tour

“Pasig Chooks could not replicate the success of Balanga against Riga Ghetto yesterday, falling to the no. 3 squad in the world, 21-15, to bow out of the 2019 FIBA 3X3 World Tour Masters in Doha, Friday.” (Photo: Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas/Facebook)

The number one team in the rankings, Liman, conquered Balanga’s Travis Franklin, Alvin Pasaol, Karl Dehesa, and Santi Santillan, 9-21, while Pasig, which consisted of Taylor Statham, Joshua Munzon, Angelo Tsagarakis, and Nikola Pavlovic, lost at 15-21 to Riga, which was ranked number three. This concluded their first run in the 12 World Tour legs of the season, with Balanga ending at sixth place, while Pasig got fifth place, bringing home $5,000.

Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 Commissioner Eric Altamirano still expressed his delight on how the Filipino teams were able to fare abroad, saying, “We made a statement that we belong here in the World Tour. Seeing the level of play here and knowing that we can keep up with the world’s best, it will definitely make our players hungrier to get back in the next legs of the World Tour.”

The owner of the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 league, Ronald Mascarinas, also expressed his continuous support, saying, “Now that we are back in the game, we will join every 3×3 tournament FIBA wants us to join. This is just the start for us. We will continue to raise the level of our league, hoping that one day we can be seen by the world as one of the elite 3×3 basketball countries.”

During the tournament, Philippine representative David Carlos tried to get an award for the country as well with his scorpion dunk over Pasaol but lost to Ukranian dunk artist Vadim Miller.

Pasig is scheduled to play in the Kunshan Challenger next from May 18-19 to advance to the Chengdu Masters.