FIBA World Cup fever is on

MANILA, Philippines — The FIBA grand showpiece is about to roll.

Participating teams – and officials led by FIBA president Hamane Niang – designated to play in Manila have started to arrive as the biggest basketball show is now around the corner.

The FIBA president, who will lead the FIBA Congress before the tournament proper, was personally welcomed by Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) president Al Panlilio during his arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) with his wife.

Montenegro, Angola, Mexico and Egypt were among the early birds to experience Filipino hospitality after their arrivals on Friday and Saturday, ahead of the World Cup rolling off on Aug. 25 to Sept. 10 in three different venues.

Greece and the Dominican Republic are scheduled to land today while Puerto Rico, Italy, Serbia and New Zealand are set to arrive tomorrow.

Also in the same schedule on Tuesday is the highly-anticipated and fan favorite Team USA, bannered by NBA rising stars coached by Golden State Warriors’ Steve Kerr with Filipino-American pride Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat as one of the assistants.

Lithuania, China, Jordan and South Sudan will follow suit on Wednesday.

Sixteen of the 32 World Cup teams will play here in the Philippines, particularly at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City and Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay while the 16 other teams have been scattered in Indonesia and Japan for the tri-nation World Cup hosting by Asia.

Group A, led by Gilas Pilipinas with the Dominican Republic, Angola and Italy as well as Group B’s Serbia, South Sudan, China and Puerto Rico will play at the iconic Big Dome.

The MOA Arena, which launched a giant MOA Ball in front of its mall for a World Cup statue, will host Group C (USA, Jordan, Greece and New Zealand) and Group D (Montenegro, Egypt, Lithuania and Mexico).

The 55,000-seater Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan will be home to the opening ceremony on Aug. 25 to be highlighted by Gilas Pilipinas’ opening game versus the Dominican Republic.

In that game, the country is likely to surpass the record of 32,616 fans drawn in the US-Russia finale in 1994 in Toronto, Canada.