Wukesong get rematch with Tokyo rival after Beijing seeding

BEIJING (2015 FIBA 3x3 World Tour) - Last year’s winners Team Wukesong (CHN) are bound for an interesting rematch against the number one 3x3 player in Japan, Tomoya Ochiai and his brand new Tokyo team at the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Beijing Masters on 15-16 August 2015.

Local favourites Wukesong – led by US-born playmaker Chris Reaves and streetball legend Wang Cong – won all their games last year in Beijing but were given a good fight in the semi-finals, winning by just one point in dramatic fashion against Team Yokohama and their go-to player Tomoya Ochiai.

The 28-year-old Ochiai changed the whole team and arrives in Beijing undefeated (5 wins in 5 events) in the .EXE Premier League, a professional 3x3 league in Japan.

Both teams will meet in Pool D, with World Tour rookies from Chandigarh (India).

Like it is the case in all FIBA 3x3 competitions, the seeding is conducted automatically according to the 3x3 individual World ranking (of the three best players from each team).  According to the FIBA 3x3 regulations, teams are seeding as follows:

POOL A POOL B POOL C POOL D
#1 seed #2 #3 #4
#8 #7 #6 #5
#9 #10 #11 #12

 

The other three pools will all be highlighted by one team who already played at the Manila Masters two weeks ago and a Chinese team.

In Pool A, FIBA 3x3 World Tour defending champs Novi Sad Al Wahda (UAE) will meet Zheng Zhou (CHN) and Bangalore (IND). The number one 3x3 player in the world Dejan Majstorovic and his team have already booked their ticket for the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Final in Abu Dhabi but are after the USD 10,000 prize money and the additional FIBA 3x3 ranking points, especially after their early exit last weekend in Prague (in the quarter-finals against Team Paris).

Ljubljana had an unexpected 1-2 record in Manila and the 2013 FIBA 3x3 World Tour winners will eye a redemption in Pool B against New Taipei (TPE) and Jinan (CHN).

Pool C will definitely be one to watch as it features Team Doha who provided an unlimited source of highlights in Manila (and finished 3rd), Team Jakarta who made it to the World Tour Final in the last two seasons and Team Beijing, who will include Jordan basketball national team player Malcolm Battles and three players from the National Basketball League (second-tier professional league in China just below CBA).

For those not attending the games in Wukesong Hi-Park, a giant playground dedicated to the game of basketball just outside the basketball venue of the Beijing Olympic Games, pool games will start at 16.00 local time (GMT+8) on Saturday live on FIBA 3x3's official YouTube channel. The top-two placed teams from each pool advance to a standard knock-out round which starts at the quarter-finals stage, from 16.15 local time on Sunday.

FIBA