SAL (Cape Verde) - Mali bagged gold in both the men and women's categories in the 3x3 basketball event at the first ever African Beach Games at Arena 3 in Santa Maria Beach Park.

In the first final, the reigning FIBA 3x3 Africa Cup champions Mali were out to showcase why they are the best on the continent seeing off Togo 20-9 in the women's category to emerge victors. 

The one-sided tie reminded all spectators in the afternoon sun by the beach on Sunday that Mali is an African 3x3 giant thanks to investment in structures and a deliberate effort to grow the shorter version of the game. 

In the men's event, Mali edged Algeria in a very tense and heavily contested final 14-13 to write history and walk away with gold in what was a deserved victory. 

The West Africans will forever remember this particular performance that saw them smiling endlessly thereafter and celebrating a profound entry onto the big stage of a new innovation that is giving 3x3 basketball a new look - at the beach. 

Nigeria settled for bronze in the women's event after defeating Namibia 21-6 while hosts Cape Verde were left in tears after losing a very close game that saw the reigning FIBA 3x3 Africa Cup winners Ivory Coast earn the bronze medals following a 19-17 victory. 

A total of 11 countries took part in this inaugural 3x3 basketball event with nine countries including Algeria, Botswana,Cape Verde, Djibouti, Mali, Namibia, Nigeria, Togo and Tunisia competing in the women's category. 

For the men, eight nations were in contention for the podium places including Algeria, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Ghana, Mali, Togo and Tunisia. 

The inaugural African Beach Games attracted over 1,000 athletes from 42 countries in Cape Verde competing for 10 days from June 14-23 in 12 sporting disciplines including 3x3 basketball, athletics, beach handball, beach rowing sprints, beach soccer, beach tennis, beach volleyball, football freestyle, karate, kite boarding, open water and teqball. 

FIBA