Ulaanbaatar, first-ever All-Asian team to win a FIBA 3x3 Challenger

JEJU (South Korea) – Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) made history by becoming the first-ever All-Asian squad to claim a FIBA 3x3 Challenger in Jeju, South Korea on October 5-6, 2019.

A force on the professional circuit for the last 3 years, Ulaanbaatar finally won their first Challenger on the touristic island of Jeju.

First created in 2013, the FIBA 3x3 Challengers are standalone international qualifiers to the FIBA 3x3 World Tour with prize money. The Challengers were upgraded several times in the last few years: they were added to the FIBA 3x3 professional circuit in 2017 and became FIBA 3x3 Official Competitions in 2018.

Ulaanbaatar previously finished 3rd in Inje and Manila this season. The Mongolian powerhouse gave a preview of their hot form by reaching the semi-finals of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Los Angeles Masters powered by L.A. Times on September 20-21, 2019.

The 4 players in Jeju were on the team which won the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup representing Mongolia in 2017 after beating China, New Zealand and Australia. They finished second in 2017 and 2018.

Mongolia never competed in the final phase of a senior FIBA official competition in basketball.

The country finished 6th and 10th (women and men respectively) at the FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup 2019, which just ended on October 6, 2019.

Mongolia is currently ranked 4th with men and 5th with the women in the FIBA 3x3 Federation Ranking.

On November 1, 2019, FIBA will officially announce the 8 teams (4 per gender) who will qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the 40 teams (20 per gender) who will participate in the FIBA 3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament, based on the FIBA 3x3 Federation Ranking.

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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 2020 Games.

Nike is the Founding Partner, Wilson the Global Ball 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 Facebook, Instagram, Sina Weibo, Tencent, Twitter, Youku and YouTube or contact 3x3@fiba.com.