Serbia regain men's FIBA 3x3 World Cup as France secure women's crown

Serbia's men secured their fifth title in seven editions of the FIBA 3x3 World Cup in Antwerp on Sunday (26 June) as France claimed their first women's crown.

Tournament MVP Dejan Majstorovic hit the winning free throw as the Serbs, who were stunned by ROC in last year's Tokyo 2020 semi-finals before taking bronze, beat Lithuania 21-16 in the final.

In the women's final, France held off Canada 16-13 to go one better than their silver in the very first edition back in 2012.

The men's decider was a repeat of last September's Europe Cup final which Serbia won in convincing fashion.

And a repeat looked inevitable when the reigning champions jumped out into an early 7-1 lead.

Majstorovic, world number one player Strahinja Stojacic, Mihailo Vasic and Marko Brankovic never really looked like being caught.

The men in green pulled to within three but Stojacic's driving lay-up, and subsequent free-throw after drawing the foul, three and half minutes from time took Serbia to the brink.

With 2:49 on the clock and Serbia leading 20-16, Majstorovic was handed two free throws. He missed the first but made the second to regain the crown.

After winning every match in the tournament, Majstorovic said afterwards, "We played an amazing tournament. I hope we will keep playing in this way to get a lot more medals from international tournaments. Thank you to our fans. We feel that support and it means a lot to us.

"It's an amazing feeling. I now have four titles like Dusan (Bulut) and (Marko) Savic."

The Serbs survived something of a scare in the semi-finals against hosts Belgium, coming back from 9-6 down to go through 17-12.

That was after they defeated Olympic champions Latvia 22-17 in the quarter-finals.

Lithuania came through an epic semi-final against France, winning 18-17 in overtime.

France’s Antoine Eito went down in pain clutching his left ankle but managed to return and land a two-pointer with 2:30 remaining to put his side 14-13 in front.

It was 16-16 at the end of regulation time, and a foul by Darius Tarvydas gave Leopold Cavaliere the chance to win it with two free throws early in overtime.

Cavaliere made the first but missed the second, and then Gintautas Matulis pulled off a steal before levelling to scores.

Matulis then made another steal before finding Ignas Vaitkus who sealed the victory.

Despite Eito being unable to take any part in the third-place match, France denied Belgium 18-17 in overtime to take bronze.

France defeat Canada to claim first women's 3x3 world crown

Laetitia Guapo inspired France's women to their first world title as they defeated Canada 16-13 in the final.

Guapo, who was the world's top-ranked player ahead of Tokyo 2020, Marie-Eve Paget, Myriam Djekoundade and Myriam Djekoundade withstood a spirited comeback to take the crown.

France had collected bronze medals at the last two World Cups and silver in the first edition in 2012.

Paget hit a late free throw to seal the win and said afterwards, "We played against Canada before the World Cup and lost twice. It's revenge so I am really proud of my team for that.

"The men's team really were underdogs and they've won bronze. It's amazing for France and I'm really proud of Team France in general.

"I think right now I don't realise what we have done. But when you finish fourth in the Olympics and lose in the semi-finals at home (in last September's Europe Cup) and now we are world champions... I'm really really happy and I will celebrate this tonight."

Guapo was named tournament MVP after scoring a total of 36 points.

The Canadians, ranked 13th coming into the competition, had a run to remember in their first FIBA 3x3 World Cup appearance.

The team of Paige Crozon, twins Katherine and Michelle Plouffe, and Kacie Bosch put out world number ones Germany 22-13 in the play-off qualifiers before beating Olympic champions USA 14-10 in the quarter-finals.

Then came a 16-14 decision over Lithuania to make the final.

France jumped out into a 14-8 lead but the Plouffes, both Olympians in five-on-five basketball, hauled Canada back into it before .

Defending champions China beat Lithuania 21-11 with over two minutes left on the clock to take bronze and match their achievement at Tokyo 2020.