Manila Chooks TM returns to action in Montreal

THE Chooks-to-go Pilipinas team will compete in the International Basketball Federation 3x3 World Tour Montreal Masters set this Saturday and Sunday in Canada.

This will be Manila Chooks TM’S second tournament this year after the Doha Masters last March 26.

The Manila Chooks TM of Mac Tallo, Zach Huang, Dennis Santos, newcomer Mark Yee and reserve Chico Lanete is seeded No. 11 in the 12-teams field in Montreal.

“The team is hungry to redeem itself,” Chooks-to-go president Ronald Mascariñas said. “The players have been ready since May but unfortunately their Croatian visas did not make it in time for the Fiba 3x3 Lipik Challenger.”

“There have been a lot of challenges faced by the team brought about by the current pandemic but we are confident that frequent participation in the Fiba 3x3 pro circuit will only make the team stronger,” he added.

Because of the heightened quarantine in Luzon, head trainer Aldin Ayo limited team training to online sessions for the past month.

“With regards to conditioning, there will be no problem as we made sure that the players figured in high-intensity workouts,” Ayo said. “The chemistry will also be there because the team has been together for three months already.”

The maximum level tournament offers a prize pool

of $110,000 with the champion bagging US$40,000.

World No. 2 Riga of Latvia headlines the field along with No. 4 Ub of Serbia, No. 7 Amsterdam of The Netherlands, No. 8 Antwerp of Belgium and No. 10 Edmonton of Canada.

Completing the field are USA’S Princeton, Switzerland’s Lausanne, Lithuania’s Raudondvaris, Canada’s Old Montreal, USA’S Omaha and one more team that will qualify through a Quest event.

The Manila Chooks TM members will have their RT-PCR tests on Tuesday and will leave the country the following day.