Players' transportation, venue renovation among few concerns left in FIBA World Cup preps, says Erika Dy

With two months left before the country hosts the 2023 FIBA World Cup in Manila, deputy event director Erika Dy said players' transportation to and from the venue as well as venue renovation are among the kinks that need to be ironed out ahead of the global competition.

Dy said the local organizing committee (LOC) will do another dry run of transportation from the Grand Hyatt Manila hotel to the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan, where the opening ceremonies will take place on August 25.

According to the official, the LOC had already conducted a simulation on Tuesday where they transported players from the Grand Hyatt to the Smart Araneta Coliseum as well as from the Conrad Manila to the Mall of Asia Arena.

In addition, to prevent players from being stuck in traffic, Dy said the bus lane in EDSA will be allocated to FIBA within the duration of the World Cup.

"Right now we’re using the bus lane, so we have to coordinate properly with the different bus stops because that was where the clogging was happening yesterday 'no," Dy shared during the SBP Invitational Games at the Big Dome on Wednesday.

"So that’s something we have to clear up when the actual games begin."

Dy also said that some parts of the Araneta Coliseum are also being renovated, including the media areas. But she said that everything is on track as the World Cup looms.

"We’re on time in terms of the construction. I’m not sure if you toured  around the media working areas a while ago, it looks very different than it used to be months ago," Dy added.

"I think by the middle of July it’s going to be fit already."

With the holding of the Invitational Games between UAAP and NCAA teams, Dy said it allowed them to assess what needs to improve on such as the movements of the personnel involved in the hosting.

"What we’re really trying  to test here is the full traffic, the flow of the different working groups as well as the other clients that we have," she said.

"There are a lot of things that we’ve noticed already that’s not supposed to happen so that’s a good thing that we’re able to flag this early."

—JMB, GMA Integrated News