BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN representatives Riffa suffered a stunning exit last night in the opening knockout stage of the Bordeaux Challenger 2025 in France, held as part of this year’s Fiba 3x3 World Tour.
Riffa were on a roll in the tournament’s opening day on Friday, winning both their preliminary round fixtures against Valencia from Spain and then London from the US. But their impressive run came to an abrupt halt as they were dropped from further contention by French outfit Toulouse, who posted a narrow 18-17 win in their quarter-final clash.
Riffa were in good shape in the game’s early stages, as two Dennis Donkor free-throws gave them a slim 8-6 lead. Donkor later fired in a two-pointer to put them up 12-9, and then a Vic van Oosterwyck free-throw made it 15-12 with just two minutes remaining on the game clock.
It was downhill for Riffa from there, however. They gave up the next six points, capped by a pair of charity shots by Hugo Suhard which put the French up 18-15 with six seconds remaining. That unanswered rally sealed Riffa’s elimination as time was about to run out.
Donkor pegged the final score with a basket from beyond the arc as the clock expired, but it had no bearing on the result.
Donkor finished as Riffa’s leading scorer with 10 points, while Milos Antic, playing in his first tournament with Riffa, added six points. Van Oosterwyck contributed just one point, while Bahraini star Mohammed Kowayed went scoreless.
Antic, from Serbia, was making his Fiba 3x3 World Tour debut with Riffa.
Paul Djoko paced Toulouse with seven points, while Suhard had six and Raphael Wilson contributed five points.
With the result, Riffa finished fifth overall on the 12-team tournament standings. The top four included Ub and Liman from Serbia, Toulouse from France, and Valencia from Spain; while ranked behind Riffa from sixth through 12th, respectively, were Lugano from Switzerland, Bordeaux from France, Kandava Turiba from Latvia, London from the US, Barcelona from Spain, Plunge from Lithuania, and Haarlem from the Netherlands.
The Bordeaux Challenger acted as a qualifying event for the Shenzhen Masters, set to take place on October 4 and 5 in China.
The Fiba 3x3 World Tour is the premier street basketball series under the International Basketball Federation (Fiba), which holds events around the world.
Masters events are the top-tier competitions. They have already taken place in Japan, China, the Netherlands, France, Austria, and Mongolia, Hong Kong, Canada, and Switzerland, with remaining events in Hungary, China, Macau, and the UAE.
This year’s Fiba 3x3 World Tour will then head to Bahrain for the season-finale, scheduled for November 21 and 22.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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