19 Sept 2017
XIAMEN (3x3) - Chinese Culture University's women from Chinese Taipei and Mon-Altius Physical University's men from Mongolia won the third edition of the 3x3 FISU World University League in Xiamen, China on September 14-17 2017.
Sixteen men’s and 16 women’s university teams battled it out in Xiamen after qualifying through a series of national and continental tournaments.
In the men's category, Mon-Altius Physical University had one of the craziest come-back title runs in history and punched their ticket to the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Mexico City Masters on September 30 - October 1.
Their 4 players - who made their first appearance on the 3x3 professional circuit (in 2 challengers) under the name Team Sukhbaatar this year - started the event with 2 straight losses.
They won the next 5, including a hard-fought 21-17 victory in the final against University Kragujevac (Serbia).
24-year-old Batzolboo Borgil was the top scorer at the event with 55 points in 7 games.
2017 turns out to be a special year for Mongolian teams in 3x3. Sukhbaatar will be the country's second team at the World Tour this year (and all-time) after Ulaanbaatar reached the semi-finals at the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Utsunomiya Masters earlier this year.
The reigning champs Mc Gill University from Canada finished third overall.
In the women's category, Chinese Culture University became the first team from Chinese Taipei to win the title.
The team was undefeated in Xiamen and capped off their perfect run with a 21-12 victory against Regina University (Canada).
Chinese Culture University featured several experienced 3x3 players, including the 21-year-old Pin Lo, who represented Chinese Taipei in several international competitions, including the 2014 Youth Olympic Games.
Tournament top scorer JianYi Ma led Qinghai Normal University to third place overall.
FIBA’s Secretary General and IOC member Patrick Baumann said he’s "very happy" with FISU’s work in developing the sport of basketball, particularly 3x3:
"It’s very cool. We’ve been working on this for about 10 years. [FISU] brings together the best teams, with a very high level of competition.
"FISU was very fast to jump on the train to help organize 3x3 since basically the beginning," Baumann added.
"It’s the perfect game for university students."
A 90-minute program about the World University League will be broadcast on Eurosport 2 on September 19 at 11pm GMT+2 and September 20 at 11am GMT+2.
FIBA