Visa problems stall PH 3×3 team’s Croatia stint

The Manila Chooks TM 3×3 team composed of (from left) Zach Huang, Chico Lanete, Mac Tallo, and Dennis Santos. | Photo from Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Manila Chooks TM 3×3 team will miss a big tournament in Croatia, the FIBA 3×3 Lipik Challenger, due to visa problems.

It was learned that the team’s tickets as well as their Croatian visas are not yet ready, which badly affected the team’s schedule. It forced the top brass of the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 to make the hard decision—pull out of the tournament.

Two Cebuanos are members of the team — Mac Tallo and Zach Huang, who have been training rigorously for the past month under a bubble setup along with Chico Lanete and Dennis Santos at the Lucena Convention Center in Quezon.

“There are things that we have no control of and this is one of them,” lamented Chooks 3×3 owner Ronald Mascariñas.

“Since 2019, this is the first time that we had to pull out from a FIBA 3×3 tournament, and the players were looking forward to it. But the challenges of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic made it hard for us to obtain our deligation’s visas.”

The Philippines has no Croatian Embassy that resulted in the passports of the four players being sent to the nearest one, which is in Jakarta, Indonesia. Their passports were mailed to the Croatian Embassy in Jakarta last May 7, but their visas are still being processed until now.

“The boys have been raring to bounce back after Doha but there are things na hindi natin kontrolado. Bawi na lang, that’s all we can do right now,” said Manila Chooks TM head trainer Aldin Ayo.

The team will wait for the FIBA 3×3’s announcement on when and where the next pro circuit this year will be held.   /rcg