Macau, China - July 20th, the 2nd Asian University 3x3 Basketball Championship was grandly opened at the main gym of University of Macao. 22 teams from 12 countries and regions, including Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Chinese Taipei, and host Macau will compete in men’s and women’s tournaments, as well as individual contest of men’s dunk and women’s shoot-out till 23rd July.
Opening Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony stated at 16: 30. AUSF Assessor Mr. Mahdi Talebpour as AUSF Delegate for this Championship, AUSF Secretary General Mr. Kenny Chow, Technical Delegate Mr. Agus Mauro, President of Sports Bureau of the Macau SAR Government Mr. Pun Weng Kun and OC President Lou Kit Long who is also the Macau Universitarian Sports’ Association (ADUM), to name just a few, attended the opening ceremony. After the march in of the 22 teams, Mr. Lou Kit Long, on behalf OC, delivered his welcome speech, saying that “Asian University 3x3 Basketball Championship is the highest-level competition in this sport event for Asian university students. He wished that student athletes could cultivate sportsmanship, improve communication of cultures between different countries and regions, as well as improving the profession of student’s basketball level and psychological quality through this championship. On behalf of AUSF, Mr. Mahdi highly praised the Organizing Committee for the thoughtful preparation. He recommended that students could respect the FISU and AUSF values, by taking this opportunity to strengthen the communication and friendship with each other. He encouraged all the teams to present their best performance, because that this event is the qualifier of 2nd 3x3 FISU World University League Final. He expected that the best Asian teams could be selected for FISU league. The Ceremony ended with gifts presenting to the Organizing Committee and sponsors to express the respect and gratitude, which was an important lesson for all the participants as well. What is worth of mentioning that ADUM is an organization of university students. Most of the board members are students. This is the first AUSF events organized by students. For both the participant and organizers, this event will be a special experience.
Competitions
In the first day of competition, all teams had a chance to play at least one game with their opponent within the pool. The opening game started with Central South University of China against Sri Lanka (men’s tournament). Due to the size difference, Central South University finished off the game with 21-3, before the clock running out of time. Central South University of China had a good start, but lost to Hong Kong Polytechnic University by 10-21, Hong Kong Polytechnic University played more physical with good team-chemistry.
The host Macau Men’s Team had a tough game with Team Indonesia. Both teams played very physically and finished off strong. Many “and one” chances were given to both teams. At about 1 minute left until the end of this game, the score was 20-19, Macau leading, ball possession to Indonesia, with intense defense around the arc, the guard from Indonesia still decided to take a tough shot to finish the game. The ball went in, score turned to 21-20, and Indonesia won the game, what a finish!
China Civil Aviation University won over Korea and Indonesia with 21-14 and 21-12 respectively. The shooter from China Civil Aviation University drew lots of attention from the defender. Therefore gave many chances to the post player to finish off easy under the basket.
Team Iran is one of the top contenders for Men’s title, so people were expecting them to play some great basketball. And of course, Team Iran did not let audience down. Their first game against Brunei was smooth and easy, 21-3 within 5 minutes proved to people how strong the team was, but had to admit the fact that there was a huge size difference between these 2 teams. What was remarkable was that both teams showed a great sign of sportsmanship, respecting and learning from the opponent.
In women's tournament, Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, the champion of the 1st edition of this championship lost 13-16 to Thailand Team B, both teams fought strong until the last second of the game. While Peking University beat Thailand Team A and Hong Kong Team B with 19-17 and 20-17 respectively.
The one of the top contenders for Women’s title Chinese Taipei showed great skills in shooting from long range and penetration. They finished off their first game against Sri Lanka before time ended, Sri Lanka did not have many chances to score under the suffocating defense implemented by Chinese Taipei.
All the matches will be live broadcasted on Facebook. By searching "Asian University 3x3 Basketball Championship”, you will find all.
For more information, please visit www. ausf. org.
(Source: AUSF Secretariat)