Pasig moved up by 24 notches in the men's club rankings. Chooks-To-Go Pilipinas (file photo) |
By Ivan Saldajeno
MANILA—The Philippines moved up a spot in the overall FIBA 3x3 rankings following Pasig and Balanga's Top 6 finishes in the recently concluded World Tour Doha Masters.
The country, which accumulated a total of 1,806,820 points as of Saturday, is now in 31st place from 32nd just after the inaugural Chooks-To-Go 3x3 Asia-Pacific Super Quest.
The said points are the sum of the points in the men's and the women's rankings.
The Philippines actually made a huge jump in the men's rankings as it moved up 14 spots from 44th place prior to the Super Quest to 30th after the Doha Masters.
The Kings eventually finished in fifth thanks to the total points tiebreaker favoring them over the Risers, and that put them up to 27th in the world, a 24-rank upgrade from 51st place.
The Philippines need to finish inside the Top 24 in the overall rankings by Nov. 1 to at least book a spot in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament and be in the Top 4 to make the Tokyo Olympics outright.
"We are elated with this development but the work is far from over," said Ronald Mascariñas, the founder of the Chooks-To-Go Pilipinas 3x3, which jumpstarted the Philippines' bid to make the inaugural Olympic 3x3 event.
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Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno