In FIBA World Cup host Philippines, basketball is life

Men play basketball at a court alongside the train tracks in Pandacan, Manila, Philippines, June 2, 2023. Basketball is played everywhere and by almost everyone in the Philippines, which counts the sport as a national obsession along with boxing and beauty pageants. Enthusiasm for the sport is only intensifying ahead of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, which opens in Manila on Friday. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

MANILA (Reuters) - *Photo essay:

It may be dwarfed by other nation's sporting prowess, but the Philippines' fervour for basketball is gigantic, and enthusiasm for the sport is only intensifying ahead of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, which opens in Manila on Friday.