Friday afternoon, the two teams that will represent the country in the 2019 FIBA 3×3 World Tour Masters Doha were given a send-off lunch at Bar One in Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria.
Little did the players of the Pasig Kings and the 1Bataan Risers know that Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 league owner Ronald Mascariñas has a surprise in store for them.
For putting up a valiant stand in the recently-concluded 2019 Chooks-to-Go 3×3 Asia Pacific Super Quest, all the players of both squads were given a ‘personal gift’ by the amiable executive that totaled to PHP 2,000,000.
“As a gesture of gratitude to the players, we are giving the players of both teams a little gift that is a little over two-million pesos,” Mascariñas disclosed during his opening remarks.
“Thank you for serving your country.”
According to league officials, the 1Bataan quartet of the Philippines’ no. 4 player Alvin Pasaol, no. 5 Santi Santillan, no. 10 Karl Dehesa, and American import Travis Franklin received more than the Pasig quintet of no. 1 Joshua Munzon, no. 2 Taylor Statham, no. 3 Troy Rike, no. 12 Dylan Ababou, and Serbian reinforcement Nikola Pavlovic, for making it to the finals of the regional meet.
Still, the players are grateful for this bonus, as 1Bataan and Pasig already received USD 15,000 and USD 7,000 as prizes for making it to the final and semifinal, respectively.
“We were surprised,” shared Munzon. “None of us expected this. I thought we were just going to have lunch here.”
“Extremely grateful to Boss Ronald and Chooks-to-Go,” added Statham. “Definitely, we will use this to motivate us to represent the country better in Doha.”
“Malaking bagay ito sa amin kasi napapakita namin na hindi lang sa five-on-five ang future ng basketball player,” opined Pasaol.
“I mean, very grateful to have this opportunity after playing in the PBA for four years. I stepped out of my comfort zone now and it’s paying off,” expressed Dehesa.
Pasig Chooks and Balanga Chooks (1Bataan) now have their sights set on shocking the world come April 18 to 19 in Doha. And Chooks-to-Go has something in store for them once more if they can represent the country well in the global tourney.
