Touchdown in Tokyo as teams target FIBA 3x3 Women's Series Stop triumph

20 Sept 2019

TOKYO (Japan) The Japanese capital will welcome six 3x3 teams this weekend, as the Women’s Series Tokyo Stop gets underway on Saturday 21st September. The two-day event will include a variety of teams with a vast range of ability.

Heading into the tournament with a great deal of expectation will be hosts Japan. They finished as runner-up in Montreal at the beginning of this month and will hope to continue in similar form at this Stop. Leading the way for them would be Mio Shinozaki – a 28-year-old averaging 5.5 points per game, while logging a total of 43 highlights so far, with a 2-point shooting clip of 32%. 

 
The Netherlands (NED) have played 27 games but only won 12 of them. Despite this, they have reason of optimism, as they placed 2nd at the Udine event just last week – their highest finish of the year. They will hope to be buoyed by the performance of sisters Jill & Loyce Bettonvil from the Dutch town of ‘s-Hertogenbosch; the team’s hopes of contention lie primarily in the hands of the familial duo. 

 
8th in the standings lies Romania (ROU), who have only won a mere three games, so their seeding is based solely on their consistent presence on the circuit. They are yet to finishe above 6th place in any of the eight events in which they’ve featured, but they will hope that they can buck that trend in Tokyo. Another team struggling to find form is 6th seed Mongolia (MGL), who have won a solitary game in a total of sixteen.

The story of Australia (AUS) is an intriguing one. They sit 18th in the Women’s Series standings, but with a 100% record. They enter as the bottom seed in Tokyo, as they have only played five games so far this year, winning all of them at the Chengdu event in May and coming out on top. The Australians will hope they can carry their momentum into their second appearance and climb up the standings. 

 
Fans can expect a fierce battle between a group of high calibre teams and are not likely to be disappointed.