Riga win FIBA 3x3 World Tour Doha Masters 2020 on unbelievable Tissot Buzzer Beater

DOHA (Qatar) – The Latvian team completed an unbelievable come-back win to beat Liman (SRB) in the final and defend their FIBA 3x3 World Tour Doha Masters title on November 21, 2020.

Down 20-15, the number 3 team in the world Riga (LAT) relentlessly bridged the gap until Karlis Lasmanis hit an impossible Tissot Buzzer Beater off the dribble from way behind the arc to earn his team a 21-20 win.

The 26-year-old lefty stepped up in the final with a game-high 11 points. It was a team effort for Riga all weekend though as sharpshooter Edgars Krumins topped all scorers (34 points in 5 games) and the speedy Nauris Miezis received the MVP trophy - from
Qatar Olympic Committee first vice president and FIBA Asia president H.E. Sheikh Saud Bin Ali Al Thani and Qatar Basketball Federation president Ahmed Abdulrahman al-Muftah - after leading his team in key assists, rebounds and player value.

Riga went 5-0 in the state-of-the-art Al Gharafa Sports Complex and Liman confirmed their domination on 3x3 in Doha. The two teams have combined to win all four FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters this season.

They will meet again at the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Final, which will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on December 18-19, 2020. In total, twelve teams will compete in the final: Riga (LAT), Liman (SRB), NY Harlem (USA), Novi Sad (SRB), Utena Uniclub (LTU), Jeddah (KSA), Lausanne Katapult (SUI), Piran (SLO), Sakiai Gulbele (LTU), Ub (SRB), Amsterdam (NED) and Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy (MGL), who become the first-ever Mongolian team to ever reach the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Final.

In the individual contests, Chris Staples (USA) won the McDonald’s Dunk Contest while former FIBA Basketball World Cup participant Kostas Vasileiadis (from Greece, playing for Lusail, QAT) dominated the Tissot shoot-out contest.

All the health and safety measures requested by local and national authorities and the Guidelines for the Return to Basketball, developed by the FIBA Medical Advisory Group (MAG), which were successfully introduced for the FIBA 3x3 World Tour return in Debrecen, were implemented once again.

DOHA MASTERS STANDINGS
1. Riga (LAT)
2. Liman (SRB)
3. Utena Uniclub (LTU)
4. Jeddah (KSA)
5. Princeton (USA)
6. Lausanne Katapult (SUI)
7. Bielefeld LFDY (GER)
8. Lusail (QAT)
9. Yoyogi Crayon.EXE (JPN)
10. Ub (SRB)
11. Manila Chooks TM (PHI)
12. NY Harlem (USA)
13. Riyadh (KSA)
14. Kamakura NatureMade (JPN)

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Exciting, urban and innovative, 3x3 is inspired by several forms of streetball played worldwide and is considered the world’s number one urban team sport. Steered by FIBA, games see two teams of three players face off on a basketball half-court.

It was played successfully for the first time in international competition at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and since then has benefited from the launch of a yearly city-based FIBA 3x3 World Tour and national-team FIBA 3x3 World & Continental Cups.

On 9 June 2017, 3x3 was added to the Olympic Program, starting from the Tokyo Games.

Wilson is the Global Ball and Apparel Partner and Tissot the Official Timekeeper of FIBA 3x3.

FIBA 3x3 events are played on Enlio floors with Wilson balls, Schelde backstops, and the Magic Sky canopy system.

For further information about 3x3, visit fiba3x3.basketball, FIBA 3x3 accounts on FacebookInstagramSina Weibo, Tencent, TikTokTwitterYouku and YouTube or contact 3x3@fiba.basketball.