Eito was unable to participate in the third-place FIBA game, but France defeated Belgium 18-17 in the extra period to win bronze.
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On Sunday, June 26, in Antwerp, Belgium, Serbia’s men won their fifth FIBA 3×3 World Cup championship in seven attempts, while France’s women won the tournament for the first time. Dejan Majstorovic, the MVP of the competition, made the go-ahead free throw as the Serbs defeated Lithuania 21-16 in the championship game after being shocked by ROC in last year’s Tokyo 2020 semifinals before claiming bronze. France defeated Canada 16-13 in the women’s final to improve upon their silver medal from the first competition in 2012. The men’s championship game was a rematch of the Europe Cup final from the previous September, which Serbia easily won. And when the defending champs stormed up to an early 7-1 lead, a repetition appeared certain.
The Serbs overcame a 9-6 deficit to defeat the host Belgium in the semi-finals 17-12, surviving a minor scare. That came after they had upset Latvia, the reigning Olympic champions, 22-17 in the quarterfinals. After a thrilling semifinal matchup with France, Lithuania prevailed 18-17 in overtime. Antoine Eito of France collapsed in agony, holding his left ankle, but he was able to get up and make a two-pointer with 2:30 left to give his team a 14-13 lead. After regulation, the score was tied 16-16, and Leopold Cavaliere had the chance to win it with two free throws early in overtime thanks to a foul on Darius Tarvydas. Gintautas Matulis made a steal and subsequently scored to tie the game after Cavaliere made the first but missed the second. In order to secure the triumph, Matulis then conducted another theft before locating Ignas Vaitkus. Eito was unable to participate in the third-place game, but France defeated Belgium 18-17 in the extra period to win bronze.
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Egypt lost their opening match 19-6 against the hosts Belgium, who totally controlled the contest. Despite this, Egypt still has a solid chance of qualifying because they require one of the top three slots to move on in the competition. Following that, Belgium will play both Poland and Mongolia, and a victory might be enough for the squad to go to the knockout rounds.
The exciting match will be held at Nis, Sports Center Cair on July 3, 21:00 GMT and July 4, 00:30 IST. The Audience from the US can stream on popular channels like ESPN, whereas Indians can log in to Fancode.com.
Belgium: Ismael Bako, Sam Van Rossom, Emmanuel, Retin, Maxime De Zeeuw
Serbia: Milos Teodosic, Aleksa Avramovic, Dusan Ristic, Nemanja, Balsa
