BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN’S Seef take to the half-court today at the Sofia Open 3x3 Palms Lite Quest in Bulgaria.
The 24-team tournament is an elite men’s 3x3 basketball event under the International Basketball Federation (Fiba), and it is an official Road to the World Tour meeting.
A Lite Quest competition is at a lower-level of Fiba’s international 3x3 circuit. It is too small to act as a direct qualifier for a Fiba 3x3 World Tour Masters tournament, but will award winning teams a place in a select Challenger meet.
The Fiba 3x3 World Tour is the premier street basketball series, with Masters stops being the highest-tier tournaments. Below them are Quest, Super Quest, Challenger, and Lite Quest competitions.
The Sofia Open 3x3 Palms Lite Quest is also a qualifier for the Caceres Challenger 2026 in Spain, scheduled for July 11 and 12. Only the winners in Sofia will book their slot.
Seef are set to compete in Bulgaria with the quartet of Bogdan Dragovic, Austin Ajukwa, Uros Ilic, and Isa Jasim. They have been preparing for the event with a training camp in Serbia this past week.
The large field of teams from all around the world has been divided into eight groups of three for the preliminary round. Seef are in Pool F along with Levski Palms Bet of Bulgaria and Dublin from Ireland.
Pool A features Toronto from Canada, Team Athina from Greece, and Pale Troje from Poland. Pool B is composed of Sparkasse Bochum from Germany, KKS Polonia 3x3 from Poland, and Mexico StreetHoopers from Mexico. Pool C comprises Bucharest Stiinta Two from Romania, Nitui from Croatia, and 3x3 Sofia from Bulgaria. Pool D includes Wiesbaden 3x3 from Germany, Electromercantil PBL from Spain, and Shamrock 3x3 from Ireland.
Pool E features Root/Jurmala from Latvia, and Uzice Zlatiborac and Turres, both from Serbia. Pool G is composed of Bucharest Stiinta from Romania, Meferes VSC Vividbooks from the Czech Republic, and West Gym from Bulgaria.
Pool H comprises Team Estonia from Estonia, Gargzdai from Lithaunia, and Bgsili from Bulgaria.
Seef open their campaign today against Levski Palms Bet at 4pm. They then take on Dublin at 8pm. Both times are Bahrain.
Following a single round-robin, the top two teams from each group move on to the last 16. Should Seef advance, they will be paired up in the opening knockout stage against a squad from Pool C. The quarter-finals, semis, and final follow.
All the games in the knockouts are scheduled to take place tomorrow, culminating with the title clash set for 9.15pm, Bahrain time.
Seef are making their season debut on Fiba’s 3x3 circuit. After the Sofia Open 3x3 Palms Lite Quest, the Bahrainis will return to Belgrade to prepare for another major Fiba 3x3 competition – the Lion City Challenger 2026, to be held in Singapore on June 20 and 21.
This first-ever edition of the tournament will also be a qualifier for the Fiba 3x3 World Tour Lausanne Masters, scheduled for August 14 and 15 in Switzerland.
The top three teams will punch their tickets to the meeting, which is the top-tier level of Fiba 3x3 action.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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