AFTER seven years, the Philippines will host the FIBA World Tour Masters.

For Chooks-to-Go president Ronald Mascariñas, now is the time to bring back the World Tour Masters to the country.

“Since 2019, the goals of Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 is to expose the Filipino basketball player to world-class competition while bringing quality 3×3 basketball to the fans,” said Mascariñas.

“Two years before the 2024 Paris Olympics, we need to garner FIBA 3×3 points to qualify for the tournament or the Olympic Qualifying Tournament,” he added.

In the top-level tournament, the Philippines will have Chooks-to-Go FIBA 3×3 Manila Masters and the Chooks-to-Go FIBA 3×3 Cebu Masters.

The Manila Masters will takes place on May 28-29, while the Cebu Masters is scheduled on October 1-2.

The last time the country hosted the FIBA World Tour Masters was in 2015, when Manila North, led by Calvin Abueva and Vic Manuel, clinched a spot in the World Tour Final after finishing second behind NoviSad AlWahda.

“By hosting the top-level tournaments, we get maximum points while also giving our players more experience and mileage in international 3×3,” said Mascariñas.

Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 players will be taking part in the FIBA World Tour Masters aside from the Manila and Cebu Masters.

Utsunomiya will open the season on May 14-15, while France, Prague, Lausanne, Debrecen, Montreal, Chengdu, Jeddah, Hong Kong, and Macau will also have Masters tournaments.

The World Tour Final will be played on December 9-10 in Abu Dhabi.

“I think we should be very grateful to Chooks-to-Go for insisting and continuing its effort to help 3×3 in the Philippines,” said FIBA 3×3 managing director Alex Sanchez.

“We always thought and believed that the Philippines is a great opportunity and market for 3×3. Therefore, we can only be grateful for this continuous effort in these difficult times,” he added.