On a day of dominant performances leading to some lopsided scorelines, Peking University among the women and Macquarie among the men pulled off double whammies, winning their match of the day as well as the shootout and slam dunk respectively.
The third day of action at the FISU University World Cup – 3×3 was all about topping the Pool tables and cementing positions in the quarterfinals. Also highlighted though, were the shootout and slam dunk competitions that got the crowd to their feet.
Eromon Uadiale of Australia’s Macquarie University saved the best for last, keeping the suspense alive until the very end of the slam dunk contest. Runner up Leandro Alvarez from the National University of La Matanza watched in good humour as Uadiale pulled out all the stops to receive three perfect 10s from the judges.
Macquarie also had a good day on the court in their match up against Uganda Christian University, winning one of the closest contests of the day 21-18. They will now take on University of Chile in the quarterfinals. The Chileans came through with a big 21-14 win over University of Colorado.
Juan Fliman later revealed their preparation had been top notch. “We saw the videos of the other games and figured what kind of game we have to play to win the game,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to be No.1 in this pool and now we expect to be No.1 of the tournament.”
Also looking to finish top of the podium are Tsinghua University of China, the defending champions. Although they had a shock loss to University of Vienna on Day 2, they proved their mettle with a massive 21-7 win over University of Taipei.
“In my opinion, I think we need to a better job of defending, going ahead,” said Kexin Song. “We have to focus on every moment when we play.”
“It is hard,” added Song, speaking about the switch from 5v5 to 3×3. Song was part of the winning squad last year, but also part of Team China that played 5v5 at the Napoli 2019 Summer Universiade earlier this year. “Our training is always in the 5v5 format. We are facing stronger body utilization on the half court of 3×3. We need to do a lot of work to adapt to this.”
It seems to be working so far, as Tsinghua have booked their quarterfinal berth against Chinese Culture University of Taipei – also former champions. The top half of the women’s draw looks very strong with Vasyl Stefanyk of Ukraine and Islamic Azad University of Iran making up the other quarterfinal.
Peking University in is the bottom half of the draw and will take on University of Vienna next, in the last eight. Zhang Yi gave her Peking teammates a boost by winning the shootout contest with eleven 2-pointers. She will hope to carry that form into the last day of action.
The final day of the University World Cup – 3×3 takes place on Sunday, with the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship matches. The women’s final will start at 09:15 GMT and the men’s final will follow at 09:40. The matches will be streamed live on FISU.TV here. All results can be found here.
