MANILA Chooks! will begin its post-Chico Lanete era on Friday on the sunny beaches of Neom, Saudi Arabia as the country’s second-ranked 3×3 team competes in the Neom Super Quest—a qualifier for the FIBA 3×3 Hong Kong Masters and part of the Neom Beach Games 2022.
Manila is made up of a tall and young lineup—6-foot-5 Dennis Santos, 6-foot-8 Ken Holmqvist, 6-foot-11 Nigerian import Henry Iloka and 6-foot-7 Dave Ando.
“While we are still looking for new players for the crucial 2023 season, we still need to compete to close out the year,” Chooks-to-Go president Ronald Mascariñas said. “And this opportunity to compete in NEOM will help us gauge who will be our foundational blocks for our teams next year.”
“This is a test if Manila’s tall and young players can compete against the top teams,” Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 head trainer Chico Lanete said. ” November 2022 to November 2023 is a crucial season, where we just don’t want to compete, but win.”
Manila Chooks!, seeded ninth in the tournament that has $10,000 going to the champion and $5,000 for the runner-up, is in Pool A with world No. 3 Riga of Latvia and No. 19 Warsaw of Poland.
Manila Chooks! will take on Latvia’s Nauris Miezis (world No. 4), Karlis Lasmanis (No. 14), Edgars Krumins (No. 18) and Agnis Čavars (No. 19) on Friday night.
The Filipinos then face Poland’s Przemyslaw Zamojski (world No. 50), Szymon Rduch, Łukasz Diduszko and Mateusz Bierwagen later Friday night.
David Carlos is competing in the Slam Dunk competition. Manila Chooks is hungry for a victory after its Cebu counterpart was swept away in the FIBA 3×3 Tainan City Challenger last October 22.
The country’s No. 1 Mac Tallo, No. 2 Brandon Ramirez, No. 11 Vince Tolentino and Cameroonian import Mike Nzeusseu finished ninth among 16 teams after falling to world No. 1 Ub (22-14) and Utsunomiya (21-10) in Tainan.