World #2 Riga Ghetto, champions of Chooks To Go 3X3 Manila Challenger 2019.
THE INITIAL list of participating teams for the opening of the 2020 FIBA 3X3 World Tour this August 29 to 30 in Debrecen, Hungary has been released by FIBA. Seven of the Top 10 teams in the world are slated to see action led by number one Liman and defending champion Novi Sad of Serbia.
Joining the two Serbian squads as hard seeds will be powerhouses Riga Ghetto of Latvia, New York Harlem of the United States, Sakiai Gulbele of Lithuania and Piran of Slovenia. Number nine Amsterdam of the Netherlands also got in as an automatic allocation.
Also on the list is Juventus Uniclub of Lithuania which earned their ticket by beating Sakiai in the finals of the Hoptrans 3X3 last month. Another slot will be filled by the champion from Estonia.
If the Philippines plan to join the tournament, the only way they can get in is via one of three wild cards at the local organizers’ choice. In 2019, three Filipino teams competed in the World Tour led by current world #27 Pasig Chooks, Balanga Chooks and Isabela Chooks.
The Debrecen Masters will coincide with the city’s hosting of the 2020 FIBA 3X3 Under-18 World Cup from August 25 to 30. It is not yet confirmed if the Philippines will be sending entries for the Boys and Girls Division.
After Debrecen, there will be a slight change in the calendar with the second leg staying in Hungary for September 1 and 2. The third leg will then be hosted by Romania on September 4 and 5.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, majority of the qualifying tournaments were not held so FIBA used the latest 3X3 rankings to determine the participants for the first three legs. Therefore, expect to see essentially the same cast plus other Top 10 teams in Princeton of the United States, Edmonton of Canada and Ub of Serbia.
FIBA will announce the succeeding legs very soon, including a season finale. In last year’s finals hosted by Utsunomiya, Japan, third seed Novi Sad defeated sixth seed Princeton in a thriller, 21-17.
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