BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN’S Riffa marched through to the quarter-finals of the Superleague Pro 3x3 Stop One last night in the town of Beauvais in France.
Riffa, the kingdom’s representatives on the annual Fiba 3x3 World Tour, secured their spot in the knockouts after winning their two preliminary round games.
Competing in Pool B, Riffa first triumphed against Bonn Telekom of Germany and then followed it up with a victory against Carolina Casa Pol of Puerto Rico.
They thus secured their place in the round of eight as winners of their division, and will next face off with the runners-up of Pool D, which features Partizan of Serbia, Hangzhou of China, and Saint-Denis SEC of France. Their quarters contest is scheduled for today, to be followed by the semi-finals and final later in the day.
Riffa began their campaign yesterday with a 16-14 win in overtime against Bonn Telekom. The contest was tied at 14-apiece at the end of regulation, and then in the brief but tense extra session, Thibaut Vervoort buried two decisive free-throws after being fouled while taking a two-pointer.
In their second game against Carolina Casa Pol, Riffa won 21-16. They were in control 9-6 early on, but their opponents got to within a point with seven minutes still to play. Carolina Casa Pol then took a brief lead at 13-12, but Jonas Foerts buried a long-range basket from beyond the arc to put the kingdom’s representatives back in front. Another Foerts two-pointer later gave Riffa an 18-15 edge, and after Vic Van Oosterwyck scored on a lay-up off a Foerts assist, Van Oosterwyck had another lay-up which was followed by a Vervoort free-throw to reach the game’s 21-point target with over three minutes still to play.
Riffa are one of 12 teams from all over the world in the French competition, which acts as a qualifier for the Amsterdam Masters, part of this year’s Fiba 3x3 World Tour, scheduled for May.
Dennis Donkor completes their four-player squad in the ongoing event.
Pool A is composed of Toulouse and Ermont Senef of France and Argos Bats JTA of Spain, while Pool C comprises Vienna of Austria, Bordeaux Ballistik of France, and Los Angeles from the US. Only the top two from each division advance to the quarter-finals.
The Superleague Pro 3x3 Stop One is part of Riffa’s international campaign ahead of the start of the 2025 Fiba 3x3 World Tour – the game’s biggest and most prestigious street basketball competition with stops all over the world, including Bahrain.
The 14th edition of the worldwide series will see the world’s best players face off in the heart of 15 cities across three continents. For the fourth consecutive year, the 2025 calendar will get underway in Utsunomiya, Japan on April 26 and 27.
The tour finale will then take place in Bahrain on November 21 and 22. This will be the first time ever that Bahrain will be staging the season-ender, which will crown this year’s Fiba 3x3 World Tour champions.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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