Pasig, Balanga bow out in FIBA World Tour Masters Doha quarters

Pasig and Balanga dropped their quarterfinal assignments to end their respectable campaign in the 2019 FIBA World Tour Masters in Doha last April 19.

Pasig was defeated by eventual champions Riga Ghetto, 21-15, and Balanga lost to Liman, 21-9, to get eliminated from the competition. Nevertheless, the two Philippine teams were impressive in the tournament after sweeping their group stage assignments.

Liman and Riga Ghetto are ranked number one and number three in the world respectively but the two suffered defeats against Pasig and Balanga respectively.

Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 commissioner Eric Altamirano lauded the performance of the team after picking up a 2-0 record in the group stage.

“We made a statement that we belong here in the World Tour. Seeing the level of play here and knowing that we can keep up with the world's best, it will definitely make our players hungrier to get back in the next legs of the World Tour,” said Altamirano.

The teams didn’t go home empty handed though as Pasig, which has Taylor Statham, Joshua Munzon, Angelo Tsagarakis, and Nikola Pavlovic finished fifth place and took home USD $5,000 for sweeping Pool A.

Balanga ended up in sixth with Travis Franklin, Alvin Pasaol, Karl Dehesa, and Santi Santillan took sixth spot.

PHOTO: Alvin Pasaol and the Balanga Chooks fall short after bowing to Liman in the quarterfinals (Photo release)

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