Chooks 3x3 to add women's division for 2020 season

A women's 3x3 league will become part of the upcoming Chooks-To-Go Pilipinas 3x3 season. Ivan Saldajeno

By Ivan Saldajeno

PASIG--Banking on Gilas Pilipinas Women's successful conquest in last year's Southeast Asian Games, Chooks-To-Go will be adding a women's division for its upcoming 2020 3x3 season.

"We're looking at adding a 3x3 league for women so that para sa 2024, before the Olympics, our target is for us not to play in the Olympic Qualifying [Tournament]. Our target for men's and women's is automatic qualification," Ronald Mascarinas, the owner of the Chooks-To-Go Pilipinas 3x3 league, said in a press conference congratulating Gilas Women for the SEA Games golds at the Bounty Agroventures office on Tuesday.

Based on the current Olympic qualification rules, a national basketball federation must be within the Top 3 in the FIBA 3x3 rankings based on gender by the cutoff date to get automatic qualification assuming the incoming Olympic host uses its host tag for a certain gender.

The national team in fourth place of the other division, that is, the one where the Olympic host will not use its host tag, will get automatic qualification. Gilas Women is currently in 21st place.

"In the next four years, we should land in the Top 3," Mascarinas reiterated his goal for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Mascarinas added that the women's division games will be in the same schedule as the men's division, similar to the setup of last season's final conference, the MelMac Cup. The 2020 Chooks-To-Go Pilipinas 3x3 season will begin early February.

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