3x3 World Tour 2018 - Wuxi Challenger Review

With the 2018 3x3 World Tour getting ever closer, more places are being decided by the Challenger qualifying tournaments. The most recent, held in Wuxi in eastern China, had two spots on offer for the second round of the tour, the Utsunomiya Masters in Japan. With plenty of big-name teams taking part, though, these places would go only to the very best the sport has to offer.

---

Home team Wuxi were the first team out of the tournament, first losing 22-4 to Leningrad then by ten points to Henyuanxiang in the qualifying draw. Their two defeaters were left to fight for a place in the main competition, but in the end it wasn’t much of a contest. Leningrad advanced to the main draw with a comfortable 22-11 win.

In the other qualifying group, Huishan kept themselves alive after an initial loss to Serbian side Raska by winning a close game against Changzhou. Raska, however, dashed any hopes with an assertive ten-point win over Changzhou, claiming their place in the main tournament.

3x3 royalty Novi Sad got the pool stage underway with nine-point win over Hubei, who then went on to play Khovd in what would be the closest contest of day one. Khovd did well to find open looks from close range, but tough defence from Hubei prevented them from being any more than one point ahead. The game winning-play proved to be elusive to the Chinese team, though, who found it hard to get into the driver’s seat. Khovd were eventual victors, by a single point.

Khovd had shown themselves to be serious competitors, and looked set to challenge Novi Sad in the final game of Pool A. However, it turned out to be too easy for Novi Sad, as they topped the pool with a 22-5 routing of the Mongolian side.

---

A similar pattern was seen in Pools B and D: both Beijing and Raska were eliminated after two defeats, with one of the remaining teams dominant over the other in the final fixture. Liman scored a ten-point win over St Petersburg, while Humpolec had a big victory over Ljubljana East by 22 points to 10.

Pool C was a different matter, a competitive three-way battle between the competitors. Ulaanbaatar first won 20-15 over Leningrad, who then kept themselves alive with a big seven-point victory over Moscow. Their competition hanging by a thread, Moscow took control in their final pool game against Ulaanbaatar, winning 22 points to 15, which saw them advance as pool winners and at the same time eliminating Ulaanbaatar as the lowest-scoring team. The bracket for day two was all set.

---

Novi Sad had the biggest victory of the quarter finals, 22-10 over Leningrad, while Humpolec and Liman also booked their semi final spots, though with admittedly less one-sided victories against St Petersburg and Ljubljana East respectively. Finally, after a close start Khovd’s outside shooting saw them lead Moscow by 12 points to 3. Looking to save face, the Russian team kept closing the gap with open looks from close range, but they couldn’t make up the difference in time. A huge victory for Khovd saw them through to the final four.

Novi Sad faced Humpolec in the first semi final, and able to handle defensive pressure they took a 4-1 early lead. The scores were tied after a corner two from the Czech team, and after hitting another from long range they led Novi Sad by two. Novi Sad went back in front, but after every made shot Humpolec responded straight away, keeping proceedings tight. After going three down, a two-pointer took Novi Sad to one point of instant victory, but Humpolec trailed only by a point at this stage. A final two-point shot from Humpolec in traffic brought the game to an end, and the biggest upset of the Wuxi Challenger was complete: Humpolec had taken down Novi Sad.

Joining Humpolec would be Liman, who put an end to Khovd’s run in this tournament with a comfortable victory where they led by as much as eleven, eventually winning 20-14. Firing from all distances, Liman put up the first six points of the final, and before long they led 9-1. Humpolec then stepped up their defence and started getting some points on the board themselves, but strong inside and on-target from outside, Liman edged closer and closer to victory. Humpolec had some good looks in the paint, but it wouldn’t be enough to stop Liman. A final shot from outside the arc won them both the game and the title in Wuxi.

Liman's commanding victory and Humpolec's brilliant run to the final will see them both play in the Utsunomiya Masters of the upcoming World Tour, where one will be looking to go even further and the other wanting to repeat their triumph here. Check out the official 3x3 World Tour website for more information on the Challengers and regular news and updates.