By Adrian Stewart Co
Hopes are high for the Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 men’s basketball team as they begin their campaign in the FIBA 3×3 basketball Olympic Qualifying Tournament tonight at Graz, Austria.
Head coach Ronnie Magsanoc said despite the challenges ahead, he is optimistic that his 3×3 squad has a slot of becoming the first Philippine basketball squad to clinch a berth in the Olympics in 49 years.
“To be honest, it will really be hard, but we’re putting our trust in each and every one,” said Magsanoc. “The teams are not only strong, these are elite countries, these are heavyweights and we’re very sure that the tournament will be a tight race.”
“The mere fact that we’re given the chance to be here and train together, there’s really a chance. I can’t promise anything but we’ll only do our best,” added the Bolts assistant coach.
Bannering the Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 team are San Miguel Beermen’s Moala Tautuaa and Jaymar Perez and incoming PBA rookies Joshua Munzon of TerraFirma Dyip and Alvin Pasaol of Meralco Bolts.
Rain or Shine Elasto Painters’ rookie forward Leonard Santillan also joined the team in Austria as reserve player, while another reserve in ex-PBA cager Karl Dehesa did not make the trip due to failure to complete the required quarantine protocols.
Tautuaa and Perez were part of the Gilas team that won a gold medal in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games 3×3 basketball, while Munzon, Pasaol and Santillan were teammates with the Chooks-To-Go 3×3 basketball team before.
The national men’s 3×3 team, currently ranked No. 20 in the world, is bracketed in Group C in the Tokyo Olympics qualifier along with Slovenia, France, Qatar, and Dominican Republic.
The Gilas Pilipinas squad will first tangle with Qatar at 7:55 p.m. tonight followed by Slovenia at 9:35 p.m. They will plunge back to action on Friday against Dominican Republic (5:50 p.m.) and France (7:55 p.m.).
Only the top two teams of each of the four groups will move on to the knockout stage, where the winner of the semis and third-place games will book a slot for the Summer Games./ASC, WDJ