BASKETBALL – Bahrain representatives Riffa finished a solid fourth overall yesterday in the Shanghai Masters basketball tournament, held in China as part of the 2025 Fiba 3x3 World Tour.
Riffa won their quarter-final clash against Raudondvaris Hoptrans of Lithuania 21-18 but then lost to Chinese outfit Hangzhou 16-20 in the semi-finals.
They came away with their final classification on final standings after having scored 70 points in the competition – just one behind third-placers Chongming, also of China.
Miami from the US were crowned champions after beating Hangzhou 20-13 in the title decider.
Ranked fifth through 12th, respectively, to end the tournament were Ub from Serbia, Amsterdam Rabobank from the Netherlands, Raudondvaris, Partizan from Serbia, Toulouse from France, Lugano from Switzerland, Skyliners from Germany, and Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy from Mongolia.
By taking fourth place, Riffa came away with $16,000 in prize money. Miami won $40,000 for first, Hangzhou pocketed $30,000 as runners-up, and Chongming took home $22,000 in third place.
Riffa competed in Shanghai with a quartet of Belgian nationals Dennis Donkor, Jonas Foerts, and Vic van Oosterwyck, together with Serbian Milos Antic.
In their quarter-final contest against Raudondvaris, Riffa trailed early but a Foerts two-pointer helped them tie the game at 9-all.
Donkor then scored followed by successive baskets from Antic, and later van Oosterwyck made it 15-12.
Donkor was then on fire from beyond the arc, burying three two-pointers to put Riffa on the brink of the win 20-15 with over three minutes still to play.
A Foerts free-throw with more than two minutes to go then gave them the 21-point target to seal the victory.
Donkor paced Riffa with eight points in the game while Antic had six, Foerts five, and van Oosterwyck two. Evaldas Dziaugys led the Lithuanians with nine markers.
In their next game, three straight points from Antic gave Riffa a slim 7-6 advantage against Hangzhou.
Their rivals then built a 16-12 advantage heading into the final minute-and-a-half, but a pair of Donkor charity shots plus an Antic make kept Riffa alive with only 39 seconds left.
Milos Jovanovic then made a driving lay-up to put Hangzhou up 17-15, but after Donkor scored with his own basket to reduce the deficit to one, he was called for a foul – plus a technical foul for complaining – awarding three free-throws and possession to their opponents with only seven seconds on the clock. Hangzhou’s Filip Kaluderovic sank all three charities to secure their triumph.
Donkor finished with six points, Antic five, Foerts four, and van Oosterwyck one. Jovanovic and Kaluderovic had eight apiece to spearhead Hangzhou.
The Shanghai Masters was the latest top-tier event on this year’s Fiba 3x3 World Tour, which is the premier street basketball series under the International Basketball Federation (Fiba).
Tournaments are of different levels, beginning with lower-tier Lite Quest and Quest competitions, and moving up to Challengers and Masters.
Other Masters events this season have been held in Japan, the Netherlands, France, Austria, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Canada, Switzerland, Hungary, and elsewhere in China; while tournaments are still to be played in Shenzhen, Macau, Abu Dhabi, and Bucharest.
Bahrain will then feature on the calendar as the Fiba 3x3 World Tour 2025 finale this November 21 and 22.
This year will be the kingdom’s staging of the series’ curtain-closer for the first time, following Manama Masters events held the past two seasons.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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