MANILA — Serbia repeated its dominance over Netherlands with a 16-13 win for its third straight FIBA 3×3 World Cup men’s title at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan on Tuesday night.
Dusan Bulut and Stefan Stojacic provided the spark for the Serbians as they held off the Dutch, who were looking to bounce back from a loss in the finals last year.
Bulut, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player, finished with seven points, while Stojacic added four.
Jesper Jobse, who joined Bulut in the Mythical Three, led Netherlands with six markers.
Michael Hicks of Poland is the other member of the said group, but he failed to give his team the bronze after falling to Slovenia, 16-21, in the battle for third.
The Polish troika blew a good start as the Slovenians found their stroke down the stretch to capture the third spot.
Meanwhile, a new women’s champion was named as Italy took the title away from erstwhile champ Russia with a 16-12 final win.
Rae Lin D’Alie, who instantly became a crowd favorite, led the Italian squad with seven points to cap her MVP-worthy performance all throughout the tournament.
Anna Leshkovtseva, who made the Mythical Three alongside D’Alie and China’s Li Yingyun, led Russia with four markers.
However, Li failed to lift China over France in the third place playoff as the latter sustained a hot start en route to a 21-14 win.
On the other hand, despite his team getting eliminated in the quarterfinals, Ukrainian baller Dmitry Krivenko will go home with a gold in his hand after winning the slam dunk contest.
Krivenko dropped a total of 79 points in the final round, enough to beat France’s Guy Dupuy and the Philippines’ David Carlos.
Dupuy took the silver, while Carlos settled for the bronze. (Ivan Stewart Saldajeno/PNA)
