3×3 WUL – An Eye on the Qualifying Tournaments

LAUSANNE – On 21 October 2016, the 2^nd edition of the 3×3 FISU World University League will start in Xiamen, China. The participating teams, in large majority, have qualified via continental qualifying tournaments organised by the Continental University Sport Federations, associate members of FISU, quick feedback of those tournaments and introduction of the teams.

The 2016 European Universities Games held in Zagreb and Rijeka served as the qualifying tournament for the old continent and saw an excellent level of competition between teams that fought for the best places. In the women’s competition, 13 teams faced each other to earn one of the two precious tickets to Xiamen, and in the end, the Lithuanian Sport University and the University of Ljubljana representing two countries famous for their basketball history, earned the sought-after tickets. In the men’s tournament, 22 teams competed and again, no surprise to find a Serbian and a Croatian team in the final. The University of Kragujevac – host of the 1^st FISU World University 3×3 Championship in 2012 – and the University of Split guaranteed their places by reaching the final of the EUSA Games.

In Asia, Macau hosted the 2^nd Asian University 3×3 Championship from 20 to 23 July and in total 22 teams took part to the event (12 men and 10 women teams). After four days of intense competition, the host team – the University of Macau – managed to qualify for the final in the company of the Payame Noor University (IRI) in the men’s competition. In the women’s tournament, China and Thailand placed their women’s team in the final with Peking University and Sripatum University respectively. Those teams will represent Asia at the final in the end of October.

The qualifiers from Oceania came from two tournaments held in New Zealand and Australia. The 2016 Unibattle took place in Gold Coast from 11 to 13 May with 4 women’s and 11 men’s teams participating. The University of Sydney earned gold in both tournaments, edging out their opponents in the respective finals and earning the spots for Xiamen. Five universities participated in the New Zealand qualifier, with the Auckland University of Technology claim the men’s title and the University of Auckland win the women’s tournament.

The city Johannesburg received the 8^th All Africa University Games with 3×3 Basketball included in the programme. In the men’s tournament, University of Johannesburg (RSA) and Makerere University (UGA) booked their tickets to the 3×3 FISU League final. The women’s tournament saw National University of Science & Technology (ZIM) join Makerere University (UGA) again to complete the African representation in Xiamen.

Four universities were appointed to represent FISU America: Universidad Nacional de La Matanza (ARG) and Universidad de Carabobo (VEN) in the men’s tournament, and UNINASSAU – PE (BRA) and University of Regina (CAN) in the women’s.

The women’s tournament is completed by the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics (CHN), the 2015 women’s winners and the wild card team Université de Nantes (FRA). In the men’s, two wild card teams complete the roster are McGill University (CAN) and the NCAA Div. I and Big Ten Conference team, Indiana University (USA).

Competition will start on 21 October in Xiamen, running for 3 days and with the finals on 23 October, live on CCTV5 and Eurosport.

(Source: WUC Dept.)