BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN representatives Riffa are set to compete in the Lausanne Masters in Switzerland this weekend as part of the Fiba 3x3 World Tour 2025.
Riffa will be taking to the half-court with a quartet of Dennis Donkor, Jonas Foerts, Vic Van Oosterwyck, and Andrej Cuyvers.
The kingdom’s side have been placed in Pool C for the 12-team competition’s preliminary round, organisers announced yesterday. They will be taking on Miami of the US and Valencia of Spain in this phase.
Pool A features Ub of Serbia, Hangzhou of China, and Swiss hosts Lausanne; Pool B includes Amsterdam Rabobank of the Netherlands, Partizan of Serbia, and Lugano of Switzerland; and Pool D is composed of Liman of Serbia, Raudondvaris Hoptrans of Lithuania, and a team from the qualifying draw.
Qualification features three squads, namely Carolina from Puerto Rico, Barcelona from Spain, and Jurmala from Latvia.
Riffa get their campaign underway on Friday against Miami at 8.15pm, and then face off with Valencia at 10.15pm. Both times are Bahrain.
They will be hoping to finish as one of the top two teams in their pool to advance to the quarter-finals, which will be held Saturday along with the ensuing semis and final.
The champions in the tournament will come away with $40,000 in prize money, while the runners-up will pocket $30,000. Third place will get $22,000 and fourth $16,000; while fifth through seventh will take home $10,000, $8,000, and $6,000, respectively.
Riffa are coming off a third-place finish in the Montreux 3x3 Volume 4 Quest tournament, played in Montreux, Switzerland, last weekend.
Riffa were one of 12 teams in the Fiba 3x3 World Tour 2025 event, which acted as a qualifier for the Bucharest Masters, scheduled for November 8 and 9 in Romania.
The Fiba 3x3 World Tour is the premier street basketball series under the International Basketball Federation (Fiba), which holds events around the world.
The Lausanne event follows other Masters competitions that have taken place in Japan, China, the Netherlands, France, Austria, and Mongolia, Hong Kong, and Canada. After Lausanne, there will also be tournaments in Hungary, China, Macau, and the UAE before the Fiba 3x3 World Tour heads to Bahrain for the season-finale, scheduled for November 21 and 22.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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