IT SEEMS the Philippines, along with other hopefuls, will have to wait a little longer before it could realize a 3×3 stint in the Tokyo Olympic Games.
In a statement released by FIBA Wednesday, official no 3×3 competition will take place before August 2020 at the earliest with some events even being cancelled due to the current situation with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The majority of said 3×3 events are still on course to be played in the third or fourth quarter of the year, although a final decision will be taken at a later date, according to a FIBA press release from its Mies, Switzerland headquarters.
The world’s governing body in the sport suspended all FIBA competitions on March 12, a decision confirmed at the FIBA’s Central Board on March 26 and 27.
Included among the events are two Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, including one in Bangalore, India last March 18-22 where the Philippines, sponsored by Chooks-to-Go, was set to take part in to punch a ticket to Tokyo.
The quartet of Joshua Munzon, Alvin Pasaol, CJ Perez, and Mo Tautuaa will still form the Philippine team bracketed with Slovenia, France, Qatar and the Dominican Republic in Pool C.
Earlier, Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 league owner Ronald Mascariñas vowed to continue paying the salaries of the 3×3 training pool players despite the suspension of events, including the first conference of the 2020 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 season.
Members of the pool are Munzon, Pasaol, Dylan Ababou, Troy Rike, Karl Dehesa, Santi Santillan, Franky Johnson, Chris De Chavez, and JR Alabanza.
FIBA 3×3 also scrapped four World Tour events (Prague, Lausanne, Los Angeles, Nanjing), the FIBA 3×3 U23 Nations League, qualifiers to the various Zone Cups, and the FIBA 3×3 U17 Zone Cups.
FIBA stated it remains committed to bring 3×3 back in action and continues to work actively in the planning and organization of the FIBA 3×3 World Tour, Challengers, Women’s Series, Zone Cups and World Cups (U23 and U18) in the remainder of 2020 as well as in January 2021 if needed.
The updated season calendar can be found on the Events section of the official FIBA 3×3 website.
FIBA also said it will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation on a regular basis and communicate any further updates.
