The Peninsula
Serbian powerhouse Novi Sad extended their unbeaten run from last year with two more wins on the opening day of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour – Doha 2019 being held at Katara Amphitheatre, yesterday.
Novi Sad outplayed Doha 22-6 to record their first win yesterday.
Doha, who were given a wildcard due to Qatar’s host-status in the opening round of the Tour, had the services of Elhadj Seydou, Moustafa Essam Fouda, Nedim Muslic and Ousseynou Ndiaye.
Novi Sad later followed up with another impressive show which saw them defeating Tokyo 22-7 in Pool B.
Top seeds Liman, who won three Masters last year, defeated Qatar’s Katara 21-11 in the opening game of the two-day event.
Katara team consists of Bobo Magassa, Aaron Randolph Mitchell, Abdulrahman Mohamed Saad and Fadi Abilmona.
Despite the convincing win against the hosts, the defending champions, Liman went down to Pasig Chooks from The Philippines, 16-19 in Pool A.
Balanga, also from the Philliphines, booked their place in today’s quarter-finals by winning both of their Group C games yesterday.
They beat Riga 19-17 in a thrilling match before owerpowering Moscow with a same margin.
Moscow lost their next game to Riga 12-17 as they lost the opportunity to advance.
Today, Pasig meet Riga in the first quarter-final at 4.45pm at the same venue. Balanga, Liman, Tokyo and yesterday’s heroes Novi Sad have also made it to the last-eight stage.
The semi-finals will begin at 6.55pm, followed by the final which tips off at 8.20pm.
The FIBA 3x3 World Tour is the pinnacle event of an ‘open’ network of FIBA-endorsed 3x3 tournaments.
The 2019 season consists of 11 Masters tournaments which will culminate with the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Final on November 2-3 in Utsunomiya, Japan.
The tour now moves to Chengdu, in China’s Sichuan province for the second leg.