Fiba 3×3 under way Saturday

Defending champion Manila West and Manila South will collide early after ending up in the same group in the 2015 Fiba 3×3 World Tour Manila Masters reeling off this weekend at Robinsons Place Manila.

Manila North—the third Philippine team in the tournament offering two World Tour berths—also faces a tough assignment on opening day after getting grouped with a former world champion.

“Last year was already very hard, but we’re trying to stay positive,” said Terrence Romeo, who’s back to spearhead Manila West’s title bid together with KG Canaleta, Rey Guevarra and Aldrech Ramos.

Manila West gets its campaign going in Pool D tomorrow versus Team Auckland of New Zealand and Manila South.

Manila North, which features PBA players Calvin Abueva, Vic Manuel, Karl Dehesa and National University star Troy Rosario, starts its quest versus Slovenia’s Team Ljubljana and Lebanon’s Team Beirut in Pool B.

Ljubljana captured the 2013 Fiba 3×3 World Tour championship while Beirut reached the quarterfinals of the 2012 Tokyo Masters and last year’s Beijing Masters.

NoviSad AlWahda of United Arab Emirates, the top seed and last year’s World Tour titlist, heads Pool A which includes a team from Medan, Indonesia and Longshi, China.

Qatar’s Team Doha, which bowed to Manila West in last year’s Finals upset, banners Pool C which will also feature a team from Kobe, Japan and Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei.