OQT beckons 3X3 cagers

The Philippines is now qualified to compete in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) after making it inside the Top 24 in the latest men’s 3X3 world ranking of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).

From a lowly No. 59 last February, the Filipino dribblers are now at No. 21 after amassing 8,156,266 ranking points in the past several months.

This surge should be attributed to the first-ever season of Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3X3, which raised its curtains on 16 February.

The tourney has three conferences — the President’s Cup, the Patriot’s Cup and the Magiting Cup — that stakes Level 7 tournament ratings with Level 10 being the highest.

The country also hosted the world’s first-ever Super Quest last April, which is a Level 8 tournament, and the first-ever Challenger tournament last 7 September, which is a Level 9 event.

More than that, club teams from the league competed in a World Tour and multiple Challenger tournaments, including the Doha Masters and Challenger tournaments in Moscow, Haining,

Poitiers, Xiongan, Sukhbaatar and Kaohsiung.

The league also houses 49 of the top 50 3X3 players in the country and almost 90 percent of the top 100.

“All the hard work of our players, our team owners, our staff and the federation has paid off,” said Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas league owner Ronald Mascariñas.

A total of 20 teams will compete in the OQT for four slots in the Tokyo Olympics, which would feature the 3X3 events for the first time. The last remaining slot, however, will be battled through a Universality OQT.