BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN’S Riffa powered through to the quarter-finals while Seef suffered an early exit yesterday in the Sansar Challenger in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, being played as part of the 2025 Fiba 3x3 World Tour.
Riffa made it through to the knockout stages after winning both their games to top Pool C in the tournament’s preliminary round. Seef, on the other hand, lost their two assignments in Pool A and have dropped out of the competition.
Riffa are now moving on to the quarters, where they will take on Barcelona from Spain, who had beaten Seef in their head-to-head yesterday to book a place in the elite eight.
The other pairings in this stage see Pool A winners Miami from the US take on Carolina from Puerto Rico, Pool D victors Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy from Mongolia face Marijampole Mantinga from Lithuania, and Pool B table-toppers Liman from Serbia lock horns with their compatriots in Partizan.
The quarters are scheduled to be held today starting at 9am, Bahrain time, to be followed by the semi-finals and final later in the day.
The teams are battling in the Ulaanbaatar event not only for the title, but for one of three qualifying berths for the higher-tier Shanghai Masters in China, scheduled for September 27 and 28 on this year’s Fiba 3x3 World Tour.
They are also playing for attractive prize money, with the winners from the Sansar Challenger taking home $20,000, the runners-up $15,000, and the third-placers $11,000. Fourth place gets $8,000 while fifth pockets $6,000.
The Fiba 3x3 World Tour is the premier street basketball series under the International Basketball Federation (Fiba), which holds events around the world with participating teams representing cities. This year’s calendar will head to Bahrain for the season-finale, scheduled for November 21 and 22.
Riffa are competing in Mongolia with the quartet of Belgian nationals Dennis Donkor, Jonas Foerts, and Vic van Oosterwyck, along with Serbian Milos Antic.
They won both their games yesterday in convincing fashion, first beating home side Bayankhairhan MIG 21-11, and then ousting Carolina 21-10.
Riffa were in control of most of the game against Bayankhairhan, with a pair of Donkor free-throws giving them a 10-4 advantage. After the Mongolians got back to within 9-13, Riffa scored the next five points to inch closer to the 21-point target, which they achieved with a Foerts two-pointer. Donkor was their leading scorer in the contest with seven, while Antic had six, Foerts five, and van Oosterwyck three.
Against Carolina, a van Oosterwyck basket from beyond the arc gave Riffa a 5-3 edge, and they never looked back from there. Donkor scored from long range to double the gap to 16-8, and then they closed strong with a 5-2 run – with Foerts again making a game-clinching two-pointer. Foerts was their leading scorer with eight points, while Donkor had six and Antic finished with five. Van Oosterwyck chipped in with two points.
Seef, meanwhile, competed with their Bahraini trio of Sayed Mohammed Hameed, Nasser Al Mosawi, and Alwatheq Ali, along with Serbian Bogdan Dragovic. Ali was a late replacement for Hassan Fahad in the line-up.
Seef began their campaign with a loss to Miami from the US 12-22. They then fell to Barcelona 13-21.
They hung around against Miami for the game’s opening stages and an Ali basket tied it at 7-apiece, but the Americans registered five unanswered points and maintained their form the rest of the way. Ali had five points to pace Seef, while Dragovic added four and Hameed scored three.
In their loss to Barcelona, the Bahrainis fell behind 1-7 but made a surge in the latter half of the contest. Three straight points from Dragovic got them to within 13-15, but those were the last baskets Seef scored as the Spaniards answered with a 6-0 game-clinching run, capped by back-to-back Nil Bria two-pointers.
Dragovic scored six in the loss while Ali had five and Hameed two points.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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