MANILA, Philippines — It looks like Gilas Pilipinas' trip to Doha, Qatar for the third window of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers will not push through.
This after the Saudi Basketball Federation announced a decision to cancel their hosting of the FIBA bubble due to rising cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
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The Federation announced the decision on its official Twitter account in Arabic on Thursday (early Friday morning, Manila time).
The cancellation is a tough break for Gilas Pilipinas, which has been deep in preparation for the competition in a training bubble in Calamba, Laguna.
This is also a snag on the plans of Philippine basketball prospect Kai Sotto, who opted out of the NBA G League bubble in Orlando, Florida to play for Gilas Pilipinas in Doha.
The Philippines was initially set to host the bubble before travel bans caused FIBA to relocate the window hosting to Doha.
Games for the FIBA qualifiers in Bahrain have also been called off due to virus concerns.
It remains unclear if another city will play host to the qualifiers or not.