The Manila Chooks TM will see action once more when the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 squad competes in the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) 3×3 World Tour Montreal Masters from Sept. 4-5, 2021.
This will be the team’s second tournament for 2020, the first of which was the Doha Masters last March.
Manila Chooks TM is seeded 11th among the 12 participating teams.
“The team is hungry to redeem themselves,” Chooks-to-Go President Ronald Mascariñas said in an official statement. “They have been ready since May, but unfortunately their Croatian visas did not make it in time for the FIBA 3×3 Lipik Challenger.”
The squad is made up of Mac Tallo, Zach Huang, Dennis Santos, and newcomer Mark Yee. Chico Lanete will serve as the alternate.
Due to the heightened quarantine in Luzon, head trainer Aldin Ayo has been limited to training the team online for the past month.
“With regards to conditioning, there will be no problem as we made sure that the players figured in high-intensity workouts,” Ayo said. “The chemistry will also be there since the team has been together for three months already.”
Crack is the field for this maximum-level tournament that has $110,000 in its prize pool.
World No. 2 Riga of Latvia headlines the field along with No. 4 Ub of Serbia, No. 7 Amsterdam of the Netherlands, No. 8 Antwerp of Belgium, and No. 10 Edmonton of Canada.
Completing the field are USA’s Princeton, Switzerland’s Lausanne, Lithuania’s Raudondvaris, Canada’s Old Montreal, USA’s Omaha, and one more team that will qualify through a Quest event.
The pools will be determined during the technical meeting on Sept. 3.
Manila Chooks TM will have their RT-PCR tests on Tuesday (Aug. 31) and will leave the country the following day.
“We are hoping for a good result in Montreal as this tournament will be the starting point for our domestic season,” Mascariñas said. (Chooks-to-Go) – jlo
