FIBA Basketball World Cup Executive Director David Crocker gave the Philippines' preparations for the 2023 Basketball World Cup a "fair" rating after seeing the SBP Invitational Games on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum,
“I’m leaning towards six and a half or seven. There are things that [the Local Organizing Committee (LOC)] can control, can do better, and that’s what we are talking about," Crocker said.
"[Key aspects] within the ecosystem such as travel are going to be strategic and collaborated to make this work well."
Only 57 days remain before the tournament opens.
“Transport is the biggest challenge [because] there are a lot of people who try to move around Metro Manila at the same time as we’d like to," Crocker said.
"We had great cooperation with the Highway Patrol Group to help us work out the best routes and clear the traffic, but we are also conscious [to not create] a dilemma for the general public as well so we’re trying to find a smooth way to figure it out," he added.
Organizers earlier moved several group phase games from the Philippine Arena in Bulacan to the Metro Manila venues due to traffic concerns.
Thus, the preliminaries for Groups C and D and the eventual knockout stages will be held at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City while Groups A and B will be played at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
Only the opening Group A matches on Aug. 25 featuring Angola versus Italy (4 p.m.) and the Philippines against the Dominican Republic (8 p.m.) will be held at the Philippine Arena.
Crocker did praise the efforts of the local organizers.
“I’m impressed with the team of the LOC [because] they are thinking about the challenges and having to find solutions," Crocker said.
"I joined the meeting yesterday with all of the staff and I hear them talking about the areas of operations and the readiness [to host]," he added.
"I feel that we have a very good team [of organizers] that can deliver in the World Cup."
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