Hostilities here, there
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu Chooks and Manila Chooks vow to put on a show in front of home fans as the star-studded Chooks-to-Go FIBA 3x3 World Tour Cebu Masters gets the ball rolling at the SM City Seaside here.
Bannered by Cebuano pride Mac Tallo, Cebu Chooks faces a tall order in Pool A with top-seed and world No. 3 Antwerp of Belgium and No. 18 Omaha of the United States.
Manila Chooks, meanwhile, has to go through the qualifying phase against Qatar’s Doha and Ludhiana of India in a bid to make Pool D with Switzerland’s Lausanne and Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar.
“It’s about the new level so it’s not about learning experience anymore,” said Tallo, who will be joined by Brandon Ramirez, Zach Huang and Mike Harry Nzeusseu.
“Lahat ng makakalaban namin, puro malalakas. Pero sabi ko sa players, ‘wag nating isipin na malalakas sila, pantay lang,” said playing trainer Chico Lanete who’s with Dennis Santos, Henry Iloka and newcomer Dave Ando with Manila Chooks.