CHOOKS-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 owner Ronald Mascariñas was elated no end by the number of players who showed up last Tuesday in the national tryout for guards at the Activate Hoop Arena in Mandaluyong.
“With the 2023 FIBA 3×3 season being crucial in our drive to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics and OQT, we want to find the best players possible,” Mascariñas said. “These tryouts for guards are an excellent jumpstart to it.
“We are hoping that more players can join us in our invitational tryouts for bigs which we will announce soon,” he added.
Under the watchful eyes of head trainer Chico Lanete and new team consultant Serbian Milan Isakov, seven out of 56 cagers made the initial list of players in the training pool.
Gerald Anderson, Paul Desiderio, Jaypee Belencion, Shaq Alanes, RJ Deles, Ian Pardo, and Zaljun Cartagena were chosen by Lanete and Isakov.
The likes of Mac Tallo, Brandon Ramirez, Vince Tolentino, Mike Harry Nzeussue, Henry Iloka, Dave Ando, and Dennis Santos make up the 3×3 pool bankrolled by Chooks-to-Go President and sports patron Mascariñas.
Those seven played in a 3×3 tiff with Tallo, Ramirez, Santos, and Tolentino to cap off the open tryouts.
Isakov, who calls the shots for 3×3 powerhouse Liman of Serbia, was tapped by Chooks as consultant for the pool that has its sights set on clinching a berth in the 2024 Paris Olympics. He arrived in the country early Tuesday morning.
The one-day tryout served as Chooks 3×3’s curtain call in what has been a fruitful year for the program, with a new year looming as it tries to earn as many points as possible from for outright qualification to Paris.
