1st WMC Basketball 3x3 - Warendorf (GER) - Day 5

 

 

WARENDORF (GER) - The first edition of the World Military Basketball 3x3 Championship ended on July 8 in Warendorf, Germany, with the finals taking place in front of a jubilant audience. We had the chance to see a great show and exceptional performances from our military athletes who were sublimated on the floors of Warendorf.

 

In the women's competition, Mongolia, Germany 1, France and the USA won their respective quarter-finals quite easily and qualified for the semi-finals.

 

 

In the first semi-final, the Germans Katharina Müller, Luana Rodefeld, Sonja Greinacher and Svenja Brunckhorst continued their success and defeated for the second time in this tournament the Mongolian players Battogtokh Unurzaya, Enerel Ulaankhuu, Enkhtur Tsatsral and Indra Ulziibat. After being beaten 20/16 in the preliminary round, the Mongolians were this time more widely beaten (21/10) by a German team on fire.

 

In the other semi-final, the French Calypso Joublin, Clarisse Legrand, Noumia Renold and Margot Bienvenu were again the strongest against the Americans Christie A., Keyona J., Sydney G., Ti'aera P. (21/15) and thus offered themselves the right to try to take their revenge against the Germans in the match for the gold medal.

 

 

While the preliminary match between Germany and France was very close (14/12 in favor of the Germans), the final was one-sided. Carried by the local fans and by a desire to do well without limit, the Germans did not leave any chance to France (17/8) and offered to the host country its first world military title of Basketball 3x3 in a room of Warendorf warmed up to block! Congratulations to the German players Katharina Müller, Luana Rodefeld, Sonja Greinacher and Svenja Brunckhorst who were unstoppable during the whole tournament and finished without a single defeat! An exceptional performance that will have delighted the basketball fans.

 

In the match for the bronze medal, it is finally Mongolia who wins against the USA after a tight game (15/13)!

 

 

In the men's competition, the semi-finals and the classification matches took place.

 

The first semi-final opposed two giants of world basketball, the USA and Lithuania 1. The qualifying match between the two nations had turned to the advantage of the USA (22/10) and the Americans could not reverse the trend in this semi-final again dominated by the Lithuanians Deividas Kumelis, Gintautas Matulis, Karolis Bakanauskas and Vytautas Šarakauskas who finally win 21/15 for their eighth straight victory in this tournament.

 

Another opposition of style in the second semi-final which saw France against the surprise team of this tournament, Tanzania. Unfortunately for them, the Tanzanians could only resist to the French Antoine Chardon, Kaufman Kenny, Miguel Buval and Thibault B. who left only seven small points (21/7) to this valiant Tanzanian team.

 

 

The final was between Lithuania 1 and France 1 who faced each other for the first time in this tournament and this match between the only two undefeated teams will have kept all its promises. It is finally Lithuania which emerged at the end of the suspense (21/18) and offered itself the first military world title of its history in front of a French team which will be able to feel some regrets in view of its level of play throughout the tournament.

 

The bronze medal went to the Americans, who defeated Tanzania 21/10 in the bronze medal match.

 

The Closing Ceremony of the event took place at the end of the competitions in the presence of Major General Abdullahi Maikano, VP Africa and Official CISM Representative for the event, Brigadier General Dieter Meyerhoff, Commander of the North Rhine-Westphalia Regional Command, Lieutenant-Colonel Christian Luetzkendorf, Chief of the German Delegation to CISM, Lieutenant-Colonel Tom Bellairs, PCSC Basketball, Chiefs of Missions of the participating nations as well as high local and international authorities.

 

 

Major General Abdullahi Maikano, VP Africa and Official CISM Representative for the event took the floor to close the event: “At the beginning of the competition, I was convinced it would be an excellent competition. Now it is coming to an end and I can tell you for sure that it was an outstanding competition, full of demonstrations of cooperation, comradeship and most importantly in my opinion, friendship. A Championship like this cannot happen without our competitors, but you athletes could not do what you have done without the many people who contributed their time and their talents behind the scenes. Therefore, I would also like to thank the Organizing Committee who has made an excellent job. Thank you all for the fabulous days in your country!”

 

This first edition was a huge success in terms of participation and the level of basketball produced by our military athletes was also very high. This first edition can therefore be considered without any doubt as a great success and it is highly likely that basketball 3x3 will quickly become a must in the CISM sports calendar!

 

 

Thanks to Germany for organizing this great event and see you soon for new adventures!

 

• Find all the team compositions on the FIBA 3x3 Webpage !

• Find the schedule of events and results of the 1st WMC Basketball 3x3 here !

• Ranking Men - Ranking Women

• More information also on the official website of the Organizing Committee !

 

(Source: CISM Media & Communication Department / Pictures: German Delegation to CISM)