SBP honing its chops in World Cup hosting
THE Philippines is not due to host the FIBA Basketball World Cup until 2023 but the country’s basketball federation this early is honing its chops in holding big international events.
Currently at the forefront of the Philippines’ hosting of the FIBA 3x3 World Cup at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas ( SBP) said it is using the event to gauge where it is at “organizationally” and improve itself in preparation for more events moving forward, including the Basketball World Cup in five years’ time.
“The two events are different. In the FIBA Basketball World Cup we are only hosting 16 teams and all men while in 3x3 we have 40 [ of men and women], 38 if we exclude the teams from the Philippines. So this one is a lot different as far as the details of the preparation,” said Sonny Barrios, SBP executive director, when asked by BusinessWorld of the preparation for 3x3 as a dry run for the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
“Needless to say we have to be on top of our game as far as organizational skills. Good thing the people involved in 3x3, led by [ FIBA 3x3 Managing Director] Mr. Alex Sanchez, are hands-on in helping us. It is a whole- day job for everybody. We start the day early and finish late to bring a good event to the fans,” he added.
The SBP also shared that support from the private sector and government agency has been encouraging and that they are hoping a successful staging of the 3x3 World Cup would create a ripple effect to rallying behind the country’s hosting duties.
“Initially the word we are getting is that possible partner sponsors have been receptive and hopefully through this hosting we can show that it is worth coming on board in helping us stage World Cup tournaments. Through a successful 3x3 World Cup staging we hope there will be a ripple effect,” Mr. Barrios said.
“We have talked to the local government units of the surrounding areas of the Philippine Arena. We met with the mayors and governors to ask them to encourage their constituents to support the 3x3 tournament. The Philippine National Police and the Metro Manila Development Authority are also very supportive in assisting in the transportation of the athletes as we know the Philippine Arena is quite far. And PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde also assured us of the safety of the participants,” he added.
The ongoing FIBA 3x3 World Cup marks the first time that it is being played in Southeast Asia after previous stops in Greece, Russia, China and France in its first four editions.
The Philippines has teams both in the men’s and women’s play competing in the tournament.
The Philippine men’s teams is composed of Philippine Basketball Association stars Stanley Pringle, Christian Standhardinger, Roger Pogoy and Troy Rosario and coached by Ronnie Magsanoc while the women’s team has Jack Animam, Afril Bernardino, Gemma Miranda and Janine Pontejos with Patrick Aquino as coach.
The men’s team is currently sporting a 1-1 record in Group C and is to play its remaining two games on June 11 while the women’s team ( 0- 2) was set to play anew in Group D as of press time.
In group play, the top two teams in each group advance to the knockout stage.