A spectacular weekend of 3×3 basketball and urban sports brought ParkLake Shopping Center to life, where fans witnessed top-level competition, vibrant entertainment, and strong performances from Romanian teams in both international tournaments hosted in the Romanian capital.
Rapid București Makes the Podium in the FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series
Romanian club CS Rapid București continued their impressive debut season in the FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series, securing their second podium finish of the year. The team – featuring Romanian national players Alina Podar and Alexandra Bobar, along with international stars Hortense Limouzin (France, Olympian for Paris 2024) and Martyna Petrenaite (Lithuania) – delivered thrilling performances across the weekend.
Rapid topped a challenging group that included France and Poland, two of the world’s top eight national teams, then defeated the Philippines 20-17 in the quarterfinals. Despite a narrow loss to Azerbaijan in the semis (21-18), they claimed third place and took home an $8,000 prize from the total $50,000 prize pool.
Petrenaite finished second in the tournament’s scoring rankings with 34 points, just behind MVP Brianna Fraser of Azerbaijan, who led all scorers with 36 points and received a special edition Tissot 3×3 watch.
Rapid is now ranked 5th in the world and is well-positioned to qualify for the FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series Final in Shanghai, China, this September — potentially becoming the first Romanian club since Team Bucharest in 2014 to reach a global 3×3 final.
Romania U23 Men’s Team Reaches Youth Nations League Final in Day 3
The Romanian U23 men’s national team delivered one of its strongest performances in recent memory at the FIBA 3×3 Youth Nations League, culminating in a thrilling final appearance against Italy in Day 3 of the competition.
Following group stage wins over Portugal (17-13) and Hungary (21-20), Romania advanced to the final where they ultimately fell 18-7 to the Italian side. The highlight came with Mihai Stănescu’s game-winning basket against Hungary, which nearly sparked a crowd invasion due to the intense excitement.
The team, featuring players such as Andrei Mureșan, Bogdan Andronic, Bogdan Șomcutean, Toni Pavel, and Vlad Barbălată, will next compete in Szolnok, Hungary at the end of July.
Urban Sports & Community Vibes at ParkLake
The event was more than just elite basketball—it was a true urban sports festival. Visitors of all ages engaged in open play across multiple activity zones, including volleyball, mini-football, tennis, table tennis, and fan contests both on and off the court.
Highlights included:
- A wheelchair basketball demonstration by players from the Motivation Romania Foundation, promoting accessibility and inclusion.
- Live entertainment featuring artists from the Bucharest Metropolitan Circus, the iSports Dancers cheer squad, and the folk dance ensemble Drag de Măgurele.
- An enormous Lego Nike Dunk sneaker, built from 23,707 bricks over 115 hours, which amazed guests with its detail and scale.
The event was organized by Sport Arena Streetball in partnership with CS Rapid București, and supported by BCR, Mastercard, Nike, BCR Leasing, Omniasig, Tissot, Horizon, Kandia, Porsche Inter Auto, Pep & Pepper, and the Romanian Basketball Federation.
Global Stage, Local Impact
More than 140 athletes from 17 countries across five continents competed at the event, with over 20,000 visitors attending throughout the weekend.
International broadcasts of the event reached a global audience of over 5 million viewers, with:
- FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series streamed on networks like AWSN (All Women Sports Network), backed by Whoopi Goldberg.
- FIBA 3×3 Youth Nations League featured on FIBA 3×3’s YouTube channel (1M+ subscribers) and the Olympic Channel.
As 3×3 basketball gears up for its next Olympic appearance at Los Angeles 2028, events like ParkLake demonstrate the discipline’s growing cultural relevance and deep community connection
