Rivero-led Team Philippines falls to heavyweight foes in 3x3 U-23 Worlds

MANILA, Philippines — Team Philippines absorbed back-to-back losses against bigger and higher-ranked opponents in the FIBA 3x3 U-23 World Cup in Xi’an, China on Wednesday night.

The Filipinos, bannered by Ricci Rivero, first fell to the fifth-ranked Slovenians, 14-21. They then went on to suffer a heartbreaker at the hands of the top-ranked Serbians, 16-21. 

The University of the Philippines-commit Rivero is joined by Jeepy Faundo, RJ Abarrientos and Rhayyan Amsali. 

Seeded 19th in a field of 20 competitors, the Philippines faces an uphill battle to qualify for the next round. They need to win convincingly against Turkmenistan and China on Friday.

The top two teams from each pool wi advance to the quarterfinal round. A knockout system will be employed by then.

The Chinese squad ended their Day One quest with a 2-0 outing. The other teams in the Pool C compiled 1-1 records to wrap their opening-day campaign.