Bucharest Challenger Preview: World Champions, Olympians and more in Romania

10 Aug 2018

BUCHAREST (3x3 Challengers) - The biggest 3x3 stars - both men and women - will travel to Romania during the week-end of August 11-12, for the seventh edition of the Raiffeisen Bank Bucharest Challenger. The event hosted in the ParkLake Shopping Center will feature for the first time a Women's tournament and none other than Emilie Gomis, Olympic basketball silver medalist and European Champion will play alongside her teammates for Paris Squad.

Both 3x3 World Champions, Serbia men and Italy women will be in Bucharest, while the Romanian fans will have plenty to cheer for, as their national teams and the best teams in the Sport Arena Streetball national tour will be part of the event.

In total 16 teams from 12 countries in the men’s competition and 8 teams from 7 countries in the women’s competition will battle it out for a total of 25,000 USD prize money. Both finalists in the men’s competition will qualify for the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Debrecen Masters.

The winners of the previous 3 editions of the Raiffeisen Bank Bucharest Challenger, Zemun (2015), Novi Sad Al Wahda (2016) and Riga (2017) are back for another title.

 


For Dusan Bulut and Novi Sad Al Wahda will be the fourth participation in seventh editions and they are in search for a third title in the Romanian capital.

Their supremacy is challenged by another five teams from the Top 20 in FIBA 3x3 World Ranking: Belgrade (SRB), Gdansk Energa (POL), Lausanne (SUI), Split Statist (CRO) and Sao Paulo DC (BRA).

Since Novi Sad Al Wahda already have their ticket to Debrecen (based on ranking), the team ranked 3rd in Bucharest will win a trip to Hungary if the number 1 team in the world reaches the Challenger final.

Only 4 teams have qualified for Debrecen so far: Humpolec Bernard (CZE), Kranj (SLO), Liman Tesla Voda (SRB) and Novi Sad Al Wahda (SRB).

As a side event, a popular tournament for U18 categories will be organized starting Friday. “3x3 in District 3” is an event promoting urban outdoor sports and a healthy lifestyle for youngsters supported by the local City Hall from District 3 of the Romanian capital. The children will have the chance to play and also follow the brightest stars of 3x3 basketball during this true festival.

Raiffeisen Bank Bucharest Challenger is organized together with ParkLake Shopping Center and District 3 City Hall with the support of Mastercard and NextEnergy. Event partners are: Nike, Sport Loft, Gatorade, Regina Maria, Pro FM, Pep&Pepper, Pegas, Horizon, Lego, World Class and Bucharest Directorate for Youth and Sport.

FIBA