CEBU City — Cebu and Manila Chooks brace for tough battles when the FIBA 3×3 World Tour Cebu Masters 2022 hits the road at the SM Seaside here Saturday.

Cebu Chooks, the country’s top 3×3 team, will face world No. 3 Antwerp of Belgium at 3 p.m. and Omaha of the United States at 7 p.m. in Pool A.

Mac Tallo and his Cebu Chooks are ready to give their all against one of the European powerhouses in 3×3.

“I’ve been preparing hard since nung malaman kong may Cebu Masters, lalo na alam ko na kung sino makakalaban namin,”said Tallo, the country’s No. 1 3×3 player.

“Gusto ko talagang ibuhos lahat ng makakaya ko kahit mag crumps na ako sa first game matalo lang namin yun unang kalaban namin.”

“Feeling ko naman handang handa na kaming lahat sa labang ito,”added Tallo.

Backing up Tallo in the The Cebu Chooks team are Zachary Huang, Brandon Ramirez and Mike Harry Nzeusseu.

Meanwhile, Manila Chooks will go through the qualifying draw first against Ludhiana of India at 1 p.m. and Doha of Qatar at 2:10 p.m.

Manila Chooks will be bannered by player-coach Chico Lanete, 6-5 Dennis Santos, 6-6 Dave Ando, and 6-10 Henry Iloka.

The 43-year-old Lanete, knows that it is easier said than done considering that their qualifying draw opponents are no pushovers in Ludhiana and Doha.

“Lahat ng nakakalaban namin, puro malalakas and top-ranked. Pero sabi ko nga sa players, huwag nating isipin na malalakas sila, pantay lang kami,” said Lanete..

A total of 12 teams from 10 countries will compete for the championship trophy and the lion’s share of cash prizes of $10,000.

Four of these teams are ranked in the top 10 in the world.

Four other teams are in the top 20.

The world’s No. 4 team — Riga of Latvia — won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and became the champion of the 2020 FIBA 3×3 World Tour.

.The top team at the end of the qualifying draw will complete Pool D, where it will go up against Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy and Lausanne.

Pool B is composed of Riga, Utsonomiya Brex, and Sansar MMC energy.

The trio of 2022 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas International Quest champions Saitama, Jeddah, and Amsterdam will make up Pool C.

The FIBA-level tournament was formally launched last Thursday with Chooks-to-Go President Ronald Mascariñas in attendance.