BASKETBALL – A star-studded cast of 16 of the world’s top 3x3 basketball teams are set to descend upon the kingdom for the highly anticipated Manama Masters, scheduled to take place on November 20 and 21.
The two-day event, to be held at The Avenues-Bahrain for the first time, is part of the Fiba 3x3 World Tour – the International Basketball Federation’s (Fiba) premier street basketball circuit making stops at cities all over the world throughout its annual calendar.
Ten of the participating squads have direct berths in the Manama Masters’ preliminary round, while six will need to compete in the qualifying draw for two remaining berths in the tournament proper.
Spearheading the line-up of teams will be Serbian powerhouses Ub, who were crowned champions of the Manama Final last year, which was the season-ending event of the 2025 Fiba 3x3 World Tour.
Ub are also coming off a fantastic victory last week in the Dubai Masters, where they were spearheaded by tournament MVP Strahinja Stojacic.
Also set to be part of the field are Seef, who will be flying the kingdom’s flag in the competition.
Seef have already taken part in a number of events on this year’s Fiba 3x3 World Tour.
Ub will be in Pool A for the preliminary round alongside Toronto from Canada and London from Britain, while Seef are in Pool B with Amsterdam Rabobank from the Netherlands and Cibona Ph.Classic from Croatia.
Pool C features Liman, also from Serbia, and Shanghai from China along with the team that will emerge from qualifying draw A, while Pool D is composed of Baskets Bonn and Skyliners from Germany and the winners from qualifying draw B.
Qualifying draw A comprises Barcelona from Spain, Kandava Turiba from Latvia, and Singapore from Singapore, while qualifying draw B sees Shibuya from Japan, Lausanne from Switzerland, and Santiago from Chile.
The line-up of teams has been published on the Manama Masters page on the Fiba 3x3 World Tour’s official website.
The qualifiers will get the action going on November 20, to be followed by the pool fixtures.
The knockout rounds will then take place the day after, culminating with the final and the awarding ceremonies.
A number of side events are also scheduled to accompany the Manama Masters, both on and off the playing court.
Amongst these are a slam dunk competition and a three-point shootout contest, while tournaments for local teams are also being planned.
More details are to be announced by organisers soon.
Seef’s roster is expected to include experienced Bahrain 3x3 basketball national team standouts Bogdran Dragovic, Austin Ajukwa, Uros Ilic, and Mohamed Alanzi.
This year’s tournament marks the third edition of the kingdom’s event, with previous Manama Masters being held in 2023 and 2024.
Last year’s Manama Final was the first time Bahrain hosted the curtain-closing round of the Fiba 3x3 World Tour.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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