THE road to Tokyo begins for Gilas Pilipinas 3x3 as it begins its journey in the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Graz, Austria on Wednesday.
First up for CJ Perez, Joshua Munzon, Mo Tautuaa and Santi Santillan in Pool C will be a familiar foe in Qatar, with longtime national team member Erfan Ali Saeed leading the charge.
Ali Saeed was part of the 2014 Fiba 3x3 World Cup team that stunned Serbia and helped Qatar win the crown.
This time, he'll be backstopped by youthful teammates in World no. 319 Abdulrahman Saad, No. 368 Nedim Muslic, and No. 520 Seydou Ndoye.
Tip-off is at 7:55 p.m. (Manila time).
Gilas 3x3 takes a bit of a breather before facing off against Slovenia at 9:35 p.m.
It's a tall task for the Filipinos, especially with the Slovenians bannered by the core of the world No. 8 club Piran, a perennial contender in the Fiba 3x3 World Tour pro circuit.
The quartet of world No. 18 Simon Finzgar, No. 24 Gaspar Ovnik, No. 34 Anze Srebovt, and No. 35 Adin Kavgic have been consistent contenders in the pro circuit, winning the 2019 Poitiers Challenger and the 2019 Saskatoon Masters.
Perez, Munzon, and company will have to at least win one of their games to stay in the running for the knockout rounds.
Gilas 3x3 must finish in the top two of Group C, after its games against Dominican Republic and France on Friday, and make a podium finish to earn one of the three tickets to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in July.
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