20 squads test mettle in maiden Asia Tour 3x3 cagefest

MANILA, Philippines – The best of 3x3 basketball teams across the continent are coming to Manila and battle for glory as the inaugural Asia Tour 3x3 unfolds on April 22 and 23 at the Mall of Asia Music Hall in Pasay City.

A total of 20 teams — 12 in men’s and eight in women’s — including several national squads and top professional 3x3 ball clubs from six different countries, are going to strut their wares in the two-day event offering $25,000 in prizes.

“3x3 basketball is fast becoming one of the popular sports these days and it is just the right thing to start the Asia Tour 3x3 to a country whose love to the sport is almost unparalleled,” said Asia Tour 3x3 founder Connor Nguyen of Vietnam.

Bannering the hometown bets in the men’s division are PBA campaigners TNT Triple Giga and Cavitex. The three other teams who are out to impress are the Zamboanga Valientes, Happy Hotel and Demigod. 

Rising Star, Harimau A and Harimau B fly the colors of Malaysia while The Performance Lab from Vietnam, SG Lion from Singapore and 3BL from India represent the pride of their countries in the highly-anticipated event.

Formidable squads in the women’s division are also taking the spotlight led by Philippine teams Uratex Tibay, Uratex Dreams and Discovery Pelas along with Malaysia’s Harimau A and B, Singapore’s SG Lioness, Thailand’s Sniper and Vietnam’s VN Red and Gold.

The men’s competition will be divided into four groups consisting of three teams where they play in a single-round robin format in the pool phase. Top teams from each group get an outright ticket to the quarterfinals while the second and third place teams figure in a crossover play-in matchup to determine which last four teams will advance to the playoffs.

The women’s side, on the other hand, will have two groups during the pool phase composed of the four teams which will figure in the qualification games in a single round-robin format. The top two teams at the end of the qualifying round advance to the crossover semifinals in the knockout round.

The event has also SM as venue partner, SMART as broadcast partner and Wilson as official ball. Also backing the event are Heritage Hotel, Fiber Kinetics (3x3 flooring) and Gatorade.