FIBA offers 3x3 to Manila

MANILA, Philippines - FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann phoned PLDT chairman and SBP president Manny V. Pangilinan the other day to ask if Manila could host the FIBA Asia-Pacific 3x3 leg of the World Tour Masters with the option to stage the finals in August, an indication that the governing body was impressed with the staging of the FIBA-Asia Championships here last year.

Baumann was not in Manila for the FIBA-Asia Championships but FIBA president Yvan Mainini witnessed the sellouts that packed the Mall of Asia Arena during the playoffs. There were other FIBA officials in town, including director of communications Patrick Koller, director of TV and new media rights Paul Stimpson and head of licensing and marketing Ana Brito. They saw the euphoria in the stands when the Philippines beat South Korea in the semifinals to book an automatic ticket to the FIBA World Cup in Spain on Aug. 30-Sept. 14.

Even without the 3x3 events, Pangilinan said the calendar for 2104 will be extremely busy for Philippine basketball, citing the U-17 World Cup in Dubai in early August, the 3x3 at the Youth Olympics in China, also in August, the FIBA World Cup in Spain and the Asian Games in Incheon on Sept. 19-Oct. 4.

The 3x3 leg could be squeezed into the schedule in July but the World Tour Masters must be reset to October because of the Asian Games if FIBA grants the hosting rights to Manila. The World Tour involves players of any nationality forming a four-man lineup to represent a city in five Masters qualifications leading to the finals. In 2012, Team San Juan, Puerto Rico, won the title in the finals at Miami with the five Masters legs held in Sao Paolo, Vladivostok, New York, Istanbul and Madrid. Last year, Team Brezovica, Slovenia, topped the finals in Istanbul after Masters legs in Tokyo, San Juan, Prague, Lausanne and Rio de Janeiro.

Baumann said Manila could be one of five Masters legs in the 3x3 World Tour this year and also opened the possibility of hosting the finals. Pangilinan said the SBP will study the viability of staging both competitions here in light of commitments abroad. The Asia-Pacific leg, which will bring in Australia and New Zealand, appears workable in July but the finals may be moved from August to October. Pangilinan said the options are under discussion with FIBA.

Pangilinan confirmed that the SBP will bid to host the FIBA-Asia Championships next year, the zonal qualifier for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Only the winner will gain a ticket to Brazil. It’s not unusual for a country to host back-to-back FIBA-Asia Championships. China hosted in 2001 with Shanghai, 2003 with Harbin, 2009 with Tianjin and 2011 with Wuhan. Manila ended a 40-year wait to host the event last August as the previous staging was in 1973. After the 2015 FIBA-Asia Championships, the tournament will cease to be the zonal qualifier for both the Olympics and World Cup.

“Let’s aim for the FIBA-Asia qualifying for the 2016 Olympics to be held here,” said Pangilinan. “We can argue that we’ll have three international venues by then – Mall of Asia Arena, Smart Araneta Coliseum and the Iglesia Ni Cristo stadium in Bulacan.”

Pangilinan said aside from a Manny Pacquiao fight, no event can rival what Gilas achieved at the FIBA-Asia Championships in unifying the Filipino people and bringing tears to their eyes, hoarseness to their throats and (creating) the memories of their lives. “The voice of a united nation rose to tell the world – puso, laban,” he said in his speech at the Philippine Sportswriters Association Awards Night in the Manila Hotel last Saturday night.

Pangilinan said Gilas’ silver finish shone as brightly as the U-16 team’s second place in FIBA-Asia to earn a ticket to the FIBA U-17 World Cup in Dubai. There were more milestone feats in Philippine basketball last year. The country’s U-18 3x3 squad captured the FIBA-Asia title in Bangkok and qualified for the FIBA World Cup in Jakarta. BEST founder Nic Jorge came out of retirement to coach the Philippine 3x3 team at the Asian Youth Olympics in Nanjing while PBA D-League team Blackwater Sports represented the country at the FIBA-Asia senior 3x3 in Doha. Both Jorge’s team and Blackwater made it to the quarterfinals before bowing out of contention.

Pangilinan said it took the Philippines 40 years to return to the world stage in basketball and it’s been 52 years since the national team claimed a gold in the sport at the Asian Games. He pointed out that since the SBP was established in 2007, the Philippines’ FIBA ranking has improved from No. 65 to No. 34.