3x3 - Jakarta ready to host 2013 FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championships

JAKARTA (3x3) - Driving around the busy streets of Jakarta, one would know the Indonesian capital is set to stage the third edition of the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championships as radio stations are buzzing with messages about the competition.

The Indonesian national team, whose members proudly sported a 'Fight for Indonesia' t-shirt at the kick-off press conference, will no doubt count on a big crowd of supporters as they step on one of the four 3x3 courts built for the occasion on the massive Merdeka Square, right next to the vertiginous 'Monumen Nasional', a 132-metre high tower commonly known as 'Monas'.

The stakes are high for the 56 teams (24 women and 32 men) from 38 countries who will not only battle for a medal in Jakarta but also get a chance for the top three teams to qualify automatically for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.

There will be plenty of medals to win in Indonesia as the 3x3 players will also feature in four individual contests, such as the Samsung Shoot-out contest (mixed), the free-throw pursuit (mixed), the skills contest (women) and the much-anticipated Honda Slam dunk contest (men).

The men's 3x3 competition will start on Thursday 26 September at 16:00 local time (11:00 CET) with the #1 seed Romania facing Russia for a fierce opener on the main court. All games played on the main court will be livestreamed on indonesia2013.fiba.com.

The women's 3x3 competition will debut the day after, on Friday 27 September.

There will be four pools of eight teams in the men's competition and four pools of six in the women's competition, with 172 pool games played until Saturday evening.

There will be plenty of interesting match-ups in the pool stages with last year's women's finalists Spain taking on the United States the highlight on 28 September at 19:40.

Neighbours Chinese Taipei and China (men) will meet on 26 September at 20:20, Latvia and Lithuania (men) on 27 September at 18:20 and Belgium and Netherlands (women) later that day at 19:20.

Team USA will be the team to beat in Jakarta with the women's side defending their title won in Alcobendas, Spain last season and featuring the top-ranked U18 3x3 woman in the world, Brianna Turner.

Their countrymen come with a mix of experience (two players back from last year's runner-up team) and explosiveness with the much-heralded Cliff Alexander, who should make good use of the brand new dunk rule, which foresees two points for dunks.

Both teams won the FIBA Americas 3x3 U18 Championship, showcased by Hoop It Up, in Washington DC on 1 September. The two winners of the 2013 FIBA Asia 3x3 Championship (Philippines’ men and Chinese Taipei’s women) also made the trip to Indonesia. In short, the best teams and 3x3 prospects in the world are in Jakarta for the next four days.

Don't miss the action on indonesia2013.fiba.com, including the Honda Dunk contest final at 20:45, the women’s final at 21:00 and the men’s final at 21:30 on Sunday 29 September, and join the discussion using #3x3U18 .

Men's tournament (26-29 September)
Pool A: Romania, Puerto Rico, Italy, Canada, Switzerland, Thailand, Slovakia, Russia
Pool B: Guatemala, Chinese Taipei, China, USA, Andorra, Czech Republic, Philippines, Bulgaria
Pool C: Estonia, Lithuania, Indonesia, France, Argentina, New Zealandm, Qatar, Latvia
Pool D: Poland, Brazil, Turkey, Spain, Germany, Hungary, Venezuela, Belize

Women’s tournament (27-29 September)
Pool A: Brazil, Andorra, Indonesia, Ukraine, Canada, Bulgaria
Pool B: USA, Spain, Lithuania, China, Puerto Rico, Guam
Pool C: Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, England, Thailand, Tunisia
Pool D: Chinese Taipei, Romania, France, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Estonia

FIBA