Coca-Cola forms partnership for Chooks Pilipinas 3x3 Patriots' Cup

Chooks-to-Go x Coke: Chooks 3x3 league owner Ronald Mascarinas with Coca-Cola Philippines' Ken Lumbao (Modern Trade Manager), Neil Dizon (On-premise Senior Executive), Gabriel Balboa (Modern Trade Specialist) and Jana Tabuzo (Modern Trade Marketing)

The quest for the Philippines to be in play for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics got a boost on Monday with the announced partnership of Bounty Agro Ventures Inc. and Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc.

The upcoming Patriots' Cup is now officially called the 2019 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 Patriots' Cup, presented by Coca-Cola.

According to Coca-Cola Philippines Modern Trade Manager Ken Marvin Lumbao, "Coca-Cola and Chooks-to-Go share the mission which is to do whatever we can to help the country reach the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in whatever way we can. And from what we have seen during the President's Cup (first conference), Chooks-to-Go has been the one racking up points for the country. We want to help them out in this endeavor."

Chooks Pilipinas 3x3 owner and BAVI head honcho Ronald Mascariñas is delighted with this news, notes that "This is indeed a great development not only for us but also for our local 3x3 basketball scene. With this partnership, we will continue to push for more top-level 3x3 events in the country leading up to the November 1 deadline of FIBA for the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments."

Coca-Cola is no stranger to helping out in 3x3 basketball, as it is a staunch backer of Mongolia's program that helped establish it as one of the best in the region.

Currently the host of the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Cup, the sparsely-populated country is currently ranked third in the world with its 9,405,105 points. In contrast, the Philippines is currently ranked 28th with 2,088,477 points.

Lumbao adds, "Besides being a football country, Mongolia is a force in the 3x3 basketball scene as they are definitely shoo-ins for the Olympics. Our company knows that the Philippines is a 3x3 powerhouse waiting to be unraveled. And with Chooks-to-Go, we will work hand in hand to make it to the top 24 and join an OQT."

The 2019 Chooks Pilipinas 3x3 Patriots' Cup presented by Coca-Cola brings together twelve teams across five legs. Each team will have a foreign guest player to reinforce their respective squads.

The Level 7 tournament kicks off play on June 16 at the SM Seaside City in Cebu, with subsequent legs at SM Fairview (June 22), SM Muntinlupa (July 6), and SM Megamall (July 13). The final leg serves as the Grand Finals and will take place on July 27 at SM Megamall. ESPN5 will all games LIVE.

The first conference of the Chooks Pilipinas 3x3, the President's Cup, saw Pasig Grindhouse dominate and take the PhP 1,000,000 purse and a ticket to the 2019 FIBA 3x3 World Tour Doha Masters. Pasig and the President's Cup runner-up, the Bataan Risers, then participated in the first-ever FIBA 3x3 Super Quest, which had a prize pool of $50,000, a couple of spots at the aforementioned Doha Masters, a spot at the Penang Challenger leg of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour, and a couple of spots in the Kunshan Challenger leg of said tour.

The establishment of the President's Cup allowed the country to ascend the FIBA 3x3 rankings, moving it into 30th place as of April.