Chooks-to-Go 3×3 league set to kick off with 12 city-based teams
MANILA, Philippines—The country’s bid of sending a three-on-three basketball team to the Olympics got its head start after Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 was launched on Friday at Bar One in Crowne Plaza along Ortigas Avenue.
A total of 12 city-based teams will compete in the league with Chooks-to-Go aiming to help the Philippines accumulate points needed to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“We are very excited with this 3×3 league backed by Chooks-to-Go, and this is the chance we’ve been waiting for to build a league specifically for 3×3,” said league commissioner Eric Altamirano. “We will have teams from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.”
Club teams from the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Manila Stars, Go for Gold-San Juan Knights, Bataan Risers, Bacoor Strikers, Valenzuela Classic, Marikina Shoemasters, and Bulacan Kuyas have signed to be part of the league.
The Zark’s Burger-backed Quezon City, a Dondon Hontiveros-owned Cebu team, and teams from Davao Occidental and Pasig also committed to join.
The Olympics requires participating countries to accumulate points under tournaments that basketball governing body Fiba has sanctioned.
“Though the point system of Fiba is complicated, it all starts by having a league,” said Altamirano. “Then when we have a league, we can now join the World Tour which comprises of 40 events and that’s where all the points come from.”
There will be six legs in the first conference and the games, which are put on a round-robin format, will be played in SM Malls and each leg will also have a champion.
The champions of the respective legs will be awarded and the top four will be automatically seeded.
After the teams get their points and seeds, it will now play in a knockout tournament with the overall champion winning P1,000,000.
The league’s preseason starts on January 14 at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
