BEIJING (FIBA 3x3 World Tour) - The number one 3x3 team in the world Novi Sad Al Wahda (UAE) had a perfect 2-0 record on the opening day of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Bloomage Beijing Final on October 28 2017.

So far so good for the 8 World Tour players who predicted Novi Sad Al Wahda would win their 3rd World Tour title in the Chinese capital this weekend.

The 2014 and 2015 champs had a diesel start in Pool A against Krakow R8 Basket (POL) but paged the 'Serbian Surgeon' Marko Savic to the Emergency Room in overtime. The 30-year-old responded with a game-winning two-pointer in the corner. Their second game was another story: they torched Kranj (SLO) 20-13. 

In Pool B, the reigning champs Ljubljana (SLO) continued their quiet path to a repeat after locking down Lausanne (SUI) 15-10 and knocking out Belgrade (SRB) on a cold-blooded game-winner courtesy of Jasmin 'The Iceman' Hercegovac. Belgrade went home following 2 crushing 21-19 defeats, after Lausanne star Natan Jurkovitz tipped in the game-winner. The player known as 'Swiss Khalifa' was smoking hot on Saturday. He had 12 points (9th overall), including 2 tickets to the Top 5 Plays video.

Pool C was an absolute thriller with 3 teams tied with a 1-1 record. After the youngest player at the event - 19-year-old Vojtech Rudicky - hit an amazing game-winner for Humpolec (CZE) against Riga, the Latvian team resurrected in an instant classic against Liman (SRB). Riga topped the pool for one total point scored and sent Liman on a dangerous quarter-final against Novi Sad Al Wahda. Humpolec is out for 4 points. 

Speaking of Liman, before the first game of the day, Stefan Stojacic received the award for the MVP of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour regular season from FIBA First Vice-President Hamane Niang.

Last but not least in Pool D, Piran (SLO) won Round 3 of Piran-Zemun Master (20-12). The 2014 World Tour runner-up Saskatoon (CAN) go down after 2 narrow losses (16-14 and 15-14).

In the Shoot-Out Contest Qualifier, 4 players were tied with 6 points and all earned their ticket to the final: Blaz 'Birdman' Cresnar (Ljubljana), Westher Molteni (Lausanne), Lazar Rasic (Zemun Master) and Steve Sir (Saskatoon).

Quarter-Final Brackets: 

Novi Sad Al Wahda (UAE, 1) - Liman (SRB, 3)
Piran (SLO, 5) - Lausanne (SUI, 10)
Ljubljana (SLO, 2) - Zemun Master (SRB, 4)
Riga (LAT, 6) - Kranj (SLO, 8)

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