Doha, April 19, 2019: Riga Ghetto wins FIBA their first Masters after defeating world No.1 Liman (SRB) 15-14 in a tense final of the FIBA 3×3 World Tour Doha Masters on April 18-19, 2019.
In a spectacular start to the season, it was a hard-fought, low-scoring game but the world No.3 finally tasted glory and was brilliantly led by Karlis Lasmanis who scored an equal game-high 8 points. He hit clutch buckets and deservedly claimed the MVP after leading all scorers with 39 points in the tournament.
Liman was unable to get revenge after losing to Riga Ghetto in the quarter-final of the Bloomage Final in Beijing last year.
Without injured star Stefan Stojacic, Liman had ended rival Novi Sad’s 35-game winning streak with a tough 20-17 victory in a dramatic semi-final.
After the second placed finishes in 2018, the Latvians broke through and also took home the USD 30,000 cheque.
In the individual contests, Stefan Kojic (Liman, SRB) won the shoot-out, while Ukranian Vadim ‘Miller’ Poddubchenko won a thrilling dunk contest over David Carlos from the Philippines.
FINAL STANDINGS
- Riga Ghetto (LAT). 2. Liman (SRB). 3. Novi Sad (SRB). 4. Piran (SLO)
- 5. Pasig Chooks(PHI). 6. Balanga Chooks (PHI). 7. Ljubljana (SLO). 8. Tokyo Dime (JPN)
- 9. Moscow Inanomo (RUS). 10. Katara (QAT). 11. Mount-Royal (CAN). 12. Doha (QAT)
The 2nd Masters of the season will be played in Chengdu, China on June 1-2, 2019. —- FIBA
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.