Nanjing 3x3 Challenger Preview: Ljubljana and Novi Sad Al Wahda meet again?

NANJING (FIBA 3x3 Challenger) - The two best teams in the FIBA 3x3 Team Ranking - Novi Sad Al Wahda (UAE) and Ljubljana (SLO) - headline a list of loaded squads in Nanjing for the first FIBA 3x3 Challenger of the season on 29-30 April 2017.

Two tickets for the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Utsunomiya Masters and 20,000 USD are on the line for the 16 participating teams at the Nanjing 3x3 Challenger, which will be staged in the heart of the former Chinese capital.

The Nanjing event is the first one of 13 Challengers, these standalone international tournaments, whose two finalists qualify for the FIBA 3x3 World Tour.

In total, 5 of the top 8 teams in the World will play in Nanjing, with Saskatoon (CAN), Krakow R8 Basket (POL) and Zemun (SRB) besides Novi Sad Al Wahda (UAE) and Ljubljana (SLO).

Each one of these teams have already secured at least 1 spot at the World Tour this year.

Ljubljana are already guaranteed to play at the Utsunomiya Masters (along with Piran (SLO)).

In other words, if Ljubljana reach the final of the Nanjing Challenger, the team ranked third will also make the trip to Utsunomiya on 29-30 July.

The event starts at noon local time on Saturday (4am GMT) and the final is scheduled for 7pm local time on Sunday (11am GMT).

Seeding

Pool A: Novi Sad Al Wahda (UAE), Shanghai North (CHN), Shandong (CHN), Jiangsu East (CHN)

Pool B: Ljubljana (SLO), Ulaanbaatar (MGL), Taipei City (TPE), Jiangsu South (CHN)

Pool C: Shanghai South (CHN), Jiangsu West (CHN), Nanjing South (CHN), Krakow (POL)

Pool D: Zemun (SRB), Saskatoon (CAN), Jiangsu North (CHN), Nanjing North (CHN)

FIBA