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Serbian team Novi Sad clinched the second edition of 3x3 All Stars basketball tournament at Katara Beach yesterday. Novi Sad played like a unit to beat a tired-looking Doha twice in the day, to win the event which they failed to clinch last year. |
Serbian team, who are the FIBA 3x3 World Tour winners, comprised of Dusan Domovic Bulut aka ‘Mr Bullutproof’, Marko Zedro, Marko Savic and Dejan Majstorovic.
They topped the Poll ‘A’ defeating Doha and Japan’s Yokohama. Later in the final they faced Doha, and this time too they won 20-12 against the hosts to clinch the title and pocket $35,000 as prize money.
“It is a very sweet victory considering our loss in the final of the last edition and defeat against Doha in the world championship final in Moscow,” said Novi Sad’s Dusan Domovic.
“It hurt me, whenever I watched the video of last year’s final. I was more committed to win this time in Doha,” the World No 1 player added.
Domovic gave credit of the triumph to his team-mates. “They were superb today. They all are my friends off court and we hang out together. It’s a lot of fun to win with them here,” he said.
In the semi-finals, Novi Sad defeated Bucharest 20-16, while Doha overcame Kaunas Under-18 team 18-15 in an intense game. Kaunas boys were threat until the final buzzer, but they failed to overcome the experienced hosts. Earlier in the day, Doha defeated Yokohama 18-13 to finish second in the Pool A and qualify for the last four.
“It was a difficult game. We were very tired. We played three matches yesterday in the GCC tournament and we played four matches today… it was very difficult to play against a top team like Novi Sad. We all are over thirty and need proper rest before the big events,” Doha’s world No. 12 Yaseen Musa, said after the final.
“Novi Sad is an experienced 3x3 team and have been playing together since last couple of years. Though we tried our best today, but I think they played a very good overall final,” Musa, who also plays 5x5 basketball for his club, said.
The other members of the Doha team were – Boney ‘The Doctor’ Watson, Mohamed Yousuf, Mohamed Saleem Abdullah aka ‘Big Mo’.
In the individual competitions, three-time FIBA 3x3 World Tour dunk champion Rafal ‘Lipek’ Lipnski of Poland --- wowed the large crowds in the dunk contest with his high-flying acrobatics to win the winners’ cheque. The other two competitors in the contest were Jordan ‘Mission Impossible’ Kilganon of Canada and Chris Staples of USA.
Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) Secretary General HE Sheikh Saoud Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani and FIBA president Muratore Horacio gave away the prizes.