For the first time since 2019, BCR Sport Arena Streetball returned to Iași, delivering impressive moments during the national 3×3 basketball circuit tournament at Iulius Mall. Nearly 300 players and 75 teams across all categories participated in the Iași tournament, where over 130 3×3 basketball games were played.
Hundreds of participants arrived as early as Friday to join the games and activities on the three courts and in the fan zone, all set up in the Iulius Mall parking lot. Children, parents, basketball players or not, were curious when they saw the courts at Iulius Mall and joined in the fun from the first day of the event. More than 250 prizes were awarded over a weekend full of outdoor sports and entertainment, even though rain disrupted the organizers’ plans, and the Sunday finals had to be played at the Stomart Hall in Iași.
Close matches and spectacular comebacks
Ovidiu Negoiță was unstoppable in the Men’s Open category, scoring a total of 51 points across five games. Of these, 13 points were scored in the final, where his team, Știința București, faced the local favorites, CS Politehnica Iași. The team from Bucharest won 22-19, ending the game with minutes to spare, and Negoiță’s average of 10.2 points per game was the highest recorded in any BCR Sport Arena Streetball tournament in 2024.
He was named the best player of the tournament, alongside Anamaria Pop in the Women’s Open, both of whom were awarded an Undone watch by Albini Prassa, celebrating Romania’s only superhero, Căpitanul Ro.
Pop scored 11 points in the final, where CS Vâlcea 1924 defeated their rivals, Agro Squad, with a final score of 22-13. Vâlcea thus took revenge after Agro won their head-to-head match in the group stage, 19-16.
Iași teams featured in six finals
The Sport Arena Streetball competitions returned to Iași after nearly 60 months, finding the same welcoming city eager for 3×3 basketball. Out of the ten finals played across all categories, six featured local teams. The Urban Groove team, champions of the local high school competition Iulius Mall High Ballers, won the under-18 category, after defeating Sportul Studențesc 21-16 in the final.
Entertainment moments were not missing, as the HomeTown and SkyDance dance crews brought street dance to the streetball court on the central court before the day’s final match. The next BCR Sport Arena Streetball event will take place in Timișoara, at Iulius Town, during the weekend of August 9-11.
BCR Sport Arena Streetball 2024 is brought to you by BCR, Mastercard, Nike, BCR Leasing, Horizon, BCR Life Insurance VIG, Tissot, Albini Prassa, Kandia Dulce, Ideal Board Games, Red Bull, and the Romanian Basketball Federation (FR Baschet).
The Iași stop was organized with the support of Iulius Mall, Gatorade, Mountain Dew, and Doritos.
