KOBE Paras has been named the cornerstone of the Philippine national 3x3 team as the country begins the process of putting together a lineup which it hopes would be good enough to go for gold in the Olympics.
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) is set to launch its search for the next three members of the team beginning with tryouts at the national grassroots level.
"Kobe will be the face of 3x3 basketball. Hahanap tayo ng makakasama ni Kobe," said Chooks-to-Go president Ronald Mascarinas, who will once again be leading the campaign.
SBP executive director Sonny Barrios on Tuesday expressed his confidence in this mission to get to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, seeing how 3x3 has been ingrained in the Philippine basketball culture.
"Ang 3x3 is the foundation of basketball. Fiba has always made sure to remind our chairman to take the lead in this sport. There is no reason that we cannot propegate this game format. But for us to make a significant rise in the world rankings, there should be formalities," he said.
Barrios said that the SBP wants to stage more 3x3 tournaments to boost the country's world rankings, as well as sending teams to the Fiba 3x3 World Tour, to improve from its current standing of No. 43 to as high as the top 20 to at least get an invite to the Olympics.
"If Mongolia is up there, we don't believe that we cannot do it," said Barrios.
Paras, for his part, is excited on what's in store for this program in the long run.
"It's gonna be a great journey for us," said the UP Fighting Maroon.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
