THE International Basketball Federation (Fiba) froze the 3×3 rankings in all categories as activities remain suspended amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sanctioned events were shelved since March 13 due to the outbreak and there is no certainty on when the suspension would be lifted with majority of the countries still in lockdown.
“All rankings are frozen as of April 1, 2020, until the suspension of competitions is lifted by Fiba or until any later date so communicated by Fiba,” the basketball governing body said in a statement.
The 3×3 scene endorses a points system on its tournaments, giving ranking points to national federations, ball clubs and players.
Every point counts, as it serves as gate pass to Fiba events, including the supposed Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Bengaluru, India, last March 18 to 22.
The Philippine federation is in the 22nd spot in the world rankings after factoring the combined performance of the men’s and women’s teams.
The men’s team—composed of Joshua Munzon and Alvin Pasaol, along with 30th Southeast Asian Games gold medalists CJ Perez and Moala Tautuaa—are No. 20 in the world.
“The freezing of the ranking is undertaken with the full support of the 3×3 athletes of the Fiba Player’s Commission, with whom Fiba will continue to liaise before the rankings are unfrozen,” Fiba said.
“Fiba will continue to monitor the situation on a regular basis and will evaluate the options for the continuation or not of the respective competitions, when and if the siutation allows,” the governing body added.
The Philippines is at No. 31 in 5×5 basketball dominated by the United States, Spain and Australia with Iran (22), China (28) and South Korea (30) leading the Asia rankings.
In women’s 5×5, the Philippines is at No. 49 with the US also at No. 1 while Australia was at No. 2 with Spain at No. 3.
