THE push of 3×3 basketball in the country to the world stage is set to get further wind with the hosting of the Super Quest tournament later this year.
Geared towards helping boost the country’s chances of making it to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and local partner Chooks-to-Go announced that the Super Quest will descend on the country in April.
“After last year’s success of the FIBA 3×3 World Cup organized by SBP (Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas), the initiative of Chooks-to-Go to set up a tournament with international teams from Asia-Pacific qualifying to the FIBA 3×3 World Tour is excellent news, underpins the effort of Chooks-to-Go in organizing dozens of local 3×3 events and will accelerate the development of 3×3 in Philippines. There is no reason why the Philippines cannot have successful teams playing at World Tour level, considering the depth of talent and love for the game in the country,” said FIBA 3×3 Managing Director Alex Sanchez in a statement.
The Quest is a multi-tournament qualification tour which ends in a Quest final, the best teams of which qualify to a pre-determined World Tour Masters. In the FIBA 3×3 hierarchy of events the Quest stops are a level seven (purple) while the Quest Finals are an eight (brown).
“We are looking for tangible ways for the country to find its way to the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments. I know it’s hard at this point but we will try everything,” said Chooks-to-Go President Ronald Mascariñas, whose group has been active in pushing for 3×3 basketball, including setting up the country’s first-ever 3×3 basketball league — Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3.
The top placers in the Super Quest will gain a berth in the FIBA 3X3 World Tour.
“With Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3, we want to show to the Filipino people that there is another avenue for our basketball players to compete in. With the Super Quest, we want to show the world that we can compete with the world’s best in 3×3 basketball,” said league commissioner Eric Altamirano, as he underscored the dimension that the Super Quest can be bring to the whole 3×3 basketball ecosystem in the land.
Incidentally, with this announcement of the Super Quest, the stakes got higher for the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 as besides the P1-million prize for the champions, the top two teams will automatically qualify for the Chooks-to-Go 3×3 Asia-Pacific Super Quest.
The Chooks-to-Go 3×3 Asia-Pacific Super Quest is tentatively scheduled to take place on April 6 to 7 in Manila. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
