My FIBA World Cup 2023 Experience

A dream that becomes a reality...

In 2017, the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas submitted and won the bid to host the FIBA 2023 World Cup event. Since then, I have been determined to cover the games and be part of this historical event.

After enduring the challenges of the pandemic and losing my job with ABS-CBN Sports, I am pleased to announce that my accreditation has been approved for the FIBA World Cup 2023 in Manila. I then received an offer to work with the LOC team at Cignal and SBP.

I am still struggling to figure out how I will manage to cover the games at Mall of Asia Arena from August 25 to September 10 due to my regular work and the distance from the venue. Fortunately, our team was provided with a hotel at Microtel Manila, just a few meters away from the venue.

As a member of the Loc documentation team, I am responsible for capturing photos of nearly everything. Our work began around August 17 in order to document the preparations leading up to the start of the World Cup.

Pre-event preparations

Our first assignment is to document the preparation taking place inside and outside the Mall of Asia Arena, which includes setting up the court, stickers, banners, lights, and more.

For the MOA LOC team, my hotel roommates are videographer Allan Dulfo and Philippine Star photographer Russell Palma.

We had pre-event meetings, but I only attended the last one on August 20 at the Araneta Coliseum, together with the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) team assigned to Araneta, which included Sir Jun Mendoza from the Philippine Star and Darryl from the PBA.

We checked into our hotel, Microtel Manila, on August 23 because we needed to take photos of the team practicing at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Here are photos from the pre-tournament team practice and press conference.

GROUP PHASE

August 25 (DAY 1)

Montenegro def. Mexico 91-71

Lithuania def. Egypt 93-67

August 26 (DAY 2)

Greece def. Jordan 92-71

USA def. New Zealand 99-72

August  27 (DAY 3)

Montenegro def. Egypt 89-74

Lithuania def. Mexico 99-66

August 28  (DAY 4)

International Media vs Influencers

New Zealand def. Jordan 95-87

USA def. Greece 109-81

August 29 (DAY 5)

I decided to skip shooting today and spend time with my family. But here are the game results.

Egypt def. Mexico 100-72

Lithuania def. Montenegro 91-71

August 30 (DAY 6)

USA def. Jordan 110-62

Greece def. New Zealand 83-74

August 31 (DAY 7) Classification

Mexico def. New Zealand 108-100

Egypt def. Jordan 85-69

September 1 (DAY 8) Second Round

USA def. Montenegro 85-73

Lithuania def. Greece 92-67

September 2 (DAY 9) Classification

New Zealand def. Egypt 88-86

Mexico def. Jordan 93-80

September 3 (DAY 10)

Montenegro def. Greece 73-69

Lithuania def. USA 110-104

September 4

A day off for everyone, including us, so I decided to go home and spend time with my family.

September 5 (Day 11) - Quarter Finals

Serbia def. Lithuania 87-68

USA def. Italy 100-63

September 6 (DAY 12) Quarter Finals

Germany def. Latvia 81-79

Canada def. Slovenia 100-89

September 7 (DAY 13) Classification SF

Latvia def. Italy 87-82

Lithuania def. Slovenia 100-84

September 8 (DAY 14) Semi-finals

Serbia def. Canada 95-86

Germany def. USA 113-111

September 9 (DAY 15) 

Slovenia def. Italy 89-85 7th Place

Latvia def.. Lithuania 98-63 5th Place

September 10 (DAY 16) FINALS

Canada def. USA 127-118 3rd Place

Germany def. Serbia 83-77 Finals

There is a post event party at BGC for the Loc team but we skipped and decided to have Bulalo somewhere in Malate, Manila. 

It was sad that the event has finally ended and life will go back to the normal. Part of me is happy as I will be with my family again after weeks of being away with them. 

Some of my friends also watched the games from classmates, previous work buddies and childhood friends.

I also happy to have met a lot of new people in the event including international journalist, photographers and celebrities.

The FIBA World Cup 2023 is the best experience for me in my career as a sport photographer and I am thankful for being part of this amazing event and have met a lot of good people. 

Big thanks as well to my room buddies Allan and Russell for covering for me and also for Boss Russell lending me his gears. 

I am not sure when the next FIBA World Cup will be held in the Philippines again. So, I am thankful again to God for this opportunity and blessing. 

Photos taken using Canon 5D Mark 3 and Nikon D750.