In an iconic location for the city of Constanța, few steps from the famous Casino, 3×3 basketball dominated the landscape last weekend, at the qualifying tournament for the FIBA 3×3 Europe Cup, held by the City Hall of Constanța. Eight teams have obtained tickets for the final FIBA 3×3 Europe Cup tournament which will take place between September 10 and 12 in Paris, near the famous Eiffel Tower.
Ukraine and Lithuania managed to qualify with both nationals, men and women. Estonia and the Netherlands for men, along with Hungary and the United Kingdom for women, were the other four teams that received the boarding pass for Paris.
Even though spectators had to watch the matches from a distance, due to the medical protocol established together with the International Basketball Federation, their voice was loud, especially when Romania was playing.
Matches involving the Romanians were spectacular, both the girls and the boys winning in overtime during the competition, after suspenseful matches. Cristi Chițu or Alina Maria Podar hit crucial baskets for our teams. In the end, only the girls will go to the final tournament, who got their tickets thanks to the world rankings, while the young boys of team Romania, reached the decisive qualifying match, losing to Ukraine.
The 27 national teams from 15 countries fully experienced the atmosphere of an event organized right on the beach. The spectacular location made most of them take out their phones to photograph the landscape, distributing then images and videos on their personal accounts or posting them on their respective federation accounts.
Even the official Wilson ball enjoyed an honorable swim in the waters of the Black Sea, being hardly recovered with the help of water sports enthusiasts who were at the right place, at the right time.
Hosted for the third time in a row by Constanța, the qualifying tournament for the FIBA 3×3 Europe Cup has already become a traditional event by the sea.
The teams that qualified for the Paris tournament are, at the men category: France (host country), Serbia (2019 winners), Russia and Slovenia (based on the standings), Belgium, Austria, Poland, Israel (following the Tel Aviv qualifiers). The teams that won their ticket to Paris after the event in Constanța are Estonia, the Netherlands, Ukraine and Lithuania.
In the women’s category, the qualified teams are France (host country but also the winners of 2019), Russia, the Netherlands and Romania (based on the ranking), Israel, Germany, Belgium and Spain (following the qualifying tournament in Tel Aviv). Joining after the tour in Constanța: Lithuania, Ukraine, Hungary and Great Britain.
The main scorers of the tournament played in Constanța were, from the women’s table, Ganna Rulyova (Ukraine, 26 points), Natallia Dashkevich (Belarus, 21 points), Kamile Nacickaite (Lithuania, 18 points), Temitope Fagbenle (Great Britain, 17 points), tied with Agnes Torok (Hungary), and Alina-Maria Podar (Romania, 16 points).
Most points on the men’s table were scored by: Aurelijus Pukelis (Lithuania, 31 points), Ross Bekkering (Netherlands, 28 points), Denys Noskov (Ukraine, 26 points), Karl Lips (Estonia, 24 points) and Igor Chumakov (Ukraine) tied with Sarunas Vingelis (Lithuania) with 23 points.
The competition was organized with the help of the City Hall of Constanța. The partners of the event, organized by the Constanța County Basketball Association, the Romanian Basketball Federation and Sport Arena Streetball, were: Superbet, Mastercard, Taco Bell, Zizin, Stirom, the County Directorate for Sports and Youth, Stoian Farm, Radio Constanța. FIBA official partners: Wilson, Peak, Tissot, Elite Air.
