The Philippines will face an acid test in the coming PSL Global Championship Challenge as the Filipinos playing in the 20-and-under category will be bracketed with their rivals from the United States, Canada (GIGG) and Italy in Group B of this event which starts on July 14 at the Filoil-EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
These young Filipinos will be represented by the champion of the National Finals, which serves as a qualifying tournament for the Global Championship Challenge.
The drawing of lottery was presided by officials of the Pilipinas Super League headed by commissioner Alan Caidic, deputy commissioner Gerry Esplana and basketball operations head Farley Aguila at the league’s office in Makati Tuesday afternoon.
Composing the teams in Group A in this category participated by players born 2004 are squads from New Zealand and neighboring country Australia, Canada of the North America Basketball Association headed by legendary Filipino coach Larry Albano and the United Kingdom.
Players who were born in 2006 were culled from eight teams and were likewise bracketed in Groups A and B, thus Group A will be composed of New Zealand, Australia, Canada (NABA) and United Kingdom.
Group B will be comprised of teams from the Philippines, USA, Canada (GIGG) and Thailand.
Teams competing in born 2008 had drawn participation from six squads and they are: the Philippines, US, Canada (NABA), Canada (GIGG), Australia and New Zealand.
Since there are only six participating squads in born 2008, they were not included in lottery draw and were instead put in one group to play in a single-round robin format.
The top two teams at the end of the elimination round will automatically advance to the semifinals, leaving the four teams to dispute the remaining two semis berths and play in a crossover, knockout duel in the quarterfinal round (No.3 facing No.6 and No.4 battling No.5).
Similar knockout duels will happen in the semis (No.1 taking on No.4 and No.2 squaring off with No.3) to determine the teams which will make the championship round. The finals will also be disputed in a winner-take-all showdown.
The championship match will also be held at the Filoil-EcoOil Centre will the rest of the matches will be regularly played at the Victoria Sports in Quezon City.
