3x3 – Semi-Finals set for FIBA 3x3 World Championship

ATHENS (FIBA 3x3 World Championship) – Fans planning to attend the last day of the FIBA 3x3 World Championship are in for a treat, with the third day of competition having set up an exciting climax, with the Finals of all six competitions scheduled to take place on Sunday.

Saturday started with the conclusion of the first round group games. Egypt's men's team won a nail-biting do-or-die battle with Turkey, while Bulgaria won a straight playoff against Estonia, condemning the Baltic nation to an early exit.

If Bulgaria squeezed through to the knock-out round, their place looked very much deserved as the pushed the USA all the way to overtime in the pick of the men’s Eight-Finals.

“I’m proud of my team," said Bulgaria's Vaselin Vaselinov afterwards.

"They are only 20 years and under.

We are a wildcard here and only found out we were going to play on Monday.”

What the Bulgarians failed to do, the Serbians pulled off in the quarters.

Coming out the faster, Serbia built an early lead. Trailing 7-14 the Americans went on a crazy run, which included a massive dunk by Adesanya Adetayo followed by an alley-opp by Ira Brown. But the Serbians held on.

“We knew they would do that,” said Serbia’s Dusan Bulut about those two big plays.

“But we said it’s just one point; just after we scored for two.”

“We also were a bit lucky on one.”

Ironically, after the Bulgaria game, Adetayo had pointed out that playing the USA usually raised opponents game.

“We always get everybody’s best game, we have noticed that,” he had said.

Ukraine, having upset neighbours Russia will face the French, while Israel, after blowing out Venezuela, play France.

The french emerged victorious over Greece having held steady for a narrow 16-15 win.

In the women's tournament, Germany beat Angola in overtime in another straight head-to-head for a place in Eight-Finals, while with the same at stake, Greece demolished Slovakia 16-3.

Next up for the Greek girls were Russia. Trailing by one with seconds to play, the Greeks won the defensive rebound and passed it out to Afroditi Kosma. Completely open, she steadied before nailing an inch-perfect buzzer-beater from beyond the arc to bring the scores to 16-15.

The packed bleachers went wild.

In the Quarter-Finals, Australia dismissed Czech Republic to set up a Semi with the USA, winners over Hungary.

Ukraine beat Greece, meaning they are - with the French who brushed aside Chinese Taipei and whom they will face - the only country remaining with teams in the men’s, women’s and mixed competitions.

"We are very happy," said Lyubov Alyochkina.

"Our boys won like we did. Now we are going to rest and prepare fro the next game.

"We are still in all three competitions," she grinned.

Adesanya Adetayo (USA), Deivi Añanguren (Venezuela), Georgi Bojanov (Bulgaria) and Omotayo Ogedengbe (England) qualified for the Dunk Contest Final.

FIBA