Tall order for Manila squads

Two of the first three FIBA 3x3 World Tour champions are in town to mix it up with 10 other teams in the Manila Masters leg at Robinsons Place, Ermita, this weekend. That puts a serious challenge on three Manila squads hoping to qualify for the World Tour Finals in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 15-16. Only the top two finishers of the Manila leg will advance to Abu Dhabi and unless they’re eliminated before the finals, 2013 titlist Brezovica (now Ljubljana) of Slovenia and NoviSad of Serbia (now AlWahda of the United Arab Emirates) are the favorites to clinch the tickets.

There are no restrictions on players to represent any team in the World Tour. This year, AlWahda has imported three of the four Serbians who won the 3x3 world championship for their country in 2012. The world championships are only for national teams with the usual FIBA eligibility rules applying while the World Tour is an open competition. NoviSad, representing Serbia, won the World Tour championship last year.

NoviSad AlWahda is bannered by 6-3 Dusan Domovic Bulut, 29, 6-6 Dejan Majstorovic, 27, 6-5 Marko Savic, 28 and 6-2 Marko Zdero, 30. Only Majstorovic was not on the 2012 world championship lineup. Bulut, ranked world No. 1 in the 3x3 category, was previously listed as doubtful for the Manila leg because of a shoulder injury but he’s here ready to play even with one arm.

Ljubljana’s cast is made up of 6-2 Jasmin Hercegovac, 38, 6-9 Ales Kunc, 42, 7-1 Blaz Cresnar, 29 and Tomo Cajic, 29. In 2013, three of the four were on the Brezovica team that beat NoviSad, 19-13, for the gold medal at the World Tour Finals in Istanbul. Cajic was not in the roster that year. He has since taken over Rok Smaka’s slot. The Slovenia squad has the tallest player in Cresnar and the oldest in Kunc.

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NoviSad AlWahda is seeded No. 1 in the Manila leg, bracketed in Pool A with Medan of Indonesia and Longshi of China. Second seed Ljubljana is in Pool B with Beirut of Lebanon and Manila North composed of Calvin Abueva, Vic Manuel, Troy Rosario and Karl Dehesa. In Pool C are third seed Doha of Qatar, Kobe of Japan and Kaohsiung of Chinese-Taipei. Pool D is composed of fourth seed Manila West (Terrence Romeo, KG Canaleta, Rey Guevarra, Aldrech Ramos), Auckland of New Zealand and Manila South (Lucky Ecarma, Jair Igna, Carlo Ortega, Joshua Sinclair).

Doha is once more led by 6-6 Somalia-born Yasseen Ismail Musa, 34. The others on the Qatar squad are imports Taguy Alban of Congo, 6-6 Sammy Monroe who played for Barako in the PBA in 2010 and 5-11 Dominic James of Marquette University. Kobe has two imports 6-8 Devaughn Washington of the University of Ohio and 6-7 Nyika Williams of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Auckland’s cast is made up of 6-3 John Harrison, 24, 6-4 Karl Noyer, 27, 6-7 Patrich Bolstad, 25 and 6-1 Lydon Aoake, 25.

Last year, Manila was represented by four teams in the 3x3 leg. Romeo, Ramos, Guevarra and Canaleta took Manila West to the title and booked a ticket to the World Tour Finals in Sendai. Abueva, Manuel, Ian Sangalang and Jake Pascual played on the North team that was eliminated by Doha, 21-8, in the quarterfinals. DJ Henderson, Jerie Pingoy, Ousseynou Gueye and John Wong were on the East squad that bowed to Jakarta, 15-11, in the quarterfinals. Joshua Ayo, Adonis Nismal, Ken Estrada and Jude de Vera saw action on the South team that lost to Surabaya, 21-20, in the quarterfinals.

Manila West beat Kobe, 21-9, and lost to Doha, 21-17, in the preliminaries then ousted Auckland, 14-9 and Jakarta, 18-14, before upsetting Doha, 21-17, for the crown. At the World Tour Finals in Sendai, Manila West finished fifth after beating Sao Paolo of Brazil, 21-17, and losing to Bucharest of Romania, 15-13 and Kranj of Slovenia, 21-12.

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To make it back to the World Tour Finals, Manila West must finish first or second in the Manila leg this weekend. The knockout crossover quarterfinal pairings will pit the top two placers of Pools A and D and the top two finishers of Pools B and C, meaning a finals showdown between NoviSad AlWahda and Ljubljana is highly probable. The tournament format makes sure the top two seeds don’t face off until the finals. However, they may be eliminated by other teams along the way.

The FIBA 3x3 World Tour is on its fourth year. There are six Masters legs where the top finishers advance to the 12-team World Tour Finals. This year, Manila kicks off the Masters series then it will be Prague on Aug. 8-9, Beijing on Aug. 15-16, Lausanne on Aug. 28-29, Mexico on Sept. 9-10, Rio de Janeiro on Sept. 26-27 and finally, the World Tour Finals in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 15-16.

SBP executive director Sonny Barrios said Abu Dhabi will host the World Tour Finals this and next year. Manila will take its turn to host the Finals for the first time in 2017. Miami was the first Finals host in 2012. Istanbul came next in 2013 and Sendai, last year. Abu Dhabi will stage the Finals in Corniche, a park complex and tourist destination in the heart of the Emirates capital this year.