3x3 Olympic qualifier moved to 2021

MANILA, Philippines — The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has officially moved its 3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament to 2021.

From a mere suspension of its events since last March, the world basketball governing body decided to move the 3x3 OQT among other activities to next year in line with the pushing back of the Tokyo Olympics. 

The booming halfcourt basketball discipline was set to be introduced as a medal event in the Tokyo edition of the quadrennial games.

Made up of top 3x3 players Joshua Munzon and Alvin Pasaol with PBA cagers CJ Perez and Mo Tautuaa, the 20th-ranked Gilas Pilipinas 3x3 squad was supposed to participate in the original OQT event slated March 18-22 in India. 

The Philippines was bracketed with the Dominican Republic, Slovenia, France and Qatar in Group C of the 20-team qualification, where the top three teams were supposed to be given tickets to the Olympics

Meanwhile, the FIBA has called off for good a number of big events this year, including the FIBA 3x3 U17 Zone Cups including qualifiers, the FIBA 3x3 U23 and the FIBA World Tour events in cities of Prague, Lausanne, Los Angeles and Nanjing. 

While the COVID-19 situation has improved in other countries, FIBA deemed it safe to cancel these events. No official 3x3 competitions will be allowed at least until August as the federation keeps monitoring the crisis on a regular basis.