ROC wins opening game of 3x3 basketball Olympic debut, China starts with one win, three losses

TOKYO, July 24 (Xinhua) -- The 3x3 basketball kicked off its Olympic debut with vigorous music at the Aomi Urban Sports Park in Tokyo on Saturday, with the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC)'s women team bagging a victory over Japan 21-18 in the historic opener.

ROC 3x3 star Olga Frolkina's 2-pointer at the beginning of the game made her the first-ever player to get a 3x3 bucket at the Olympic Games. The clash between the ROC and Japan was intense as the Russian athletes rolled up to a 13-6 lead before the Asian squad struggled to claw back to 19-17, which made the ending quite breathtaking.

With 25 seconds remaining, Yulia Kozik buried a decisive 2-pointer, securing the victory for ROC 21-18.

The Chinese girls embarked on their campaign with mixed results, a 21-10 win over Romania and a 19-9 defeat to the ROC.

China began with a 4-0 run to set the tone of the game facing Romania. Romania clawed back step by step to tie it at 8-8. The Chinese wonder women dominated the court during the final five minutes, crushing Romania with a 9-0 run before the 10-minute limit.

But the Chinese team couldn't keep the momentum and lost to the ROC 19-9. The ROC played like a locomotive and never trailed throughout.

"Due to COVID-19, we as a team still lack big international games experience. Facing Romania, we played as we planned in advance, but in the game against the Russian athletes, we didn't manage to employ our tactics well enough," Yang Shuyu told Xinhua after the game.

The Chinese 3x3 men's basketball team had a tough beginning with two losses respectively to Serbia 22-13 and the ROC team 21-13.

The Chinese young men fought bravely against the world's No.1 Serbians, as they tied several times on 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5 before Serbia pulled away with a 4-0 run. Dusan Bulut, known as "Mr. Bulletproof," tricked his defender with a pass fake and layup, and later hit a 2-pointer for the win 22-13.

After winning against China, Serbia edged off the Netherlands 16-15, paving the way to the gold. Serbia has won four of the six men's tournaments in the World Cup and finished as runners-up once.

"I can picture myself wearing a gold medal and it will be the biggest and best thing in my life," Serbia's top scorer Bulut said.

The US women's team overwhelmed their top opponent France 17-10 in a fierce clash and then smashed Mongolia 21-9 in the evening.

Japanese women's team lost to the ROC 21-18 and defeated Romania 20-8. The Japanese men's team was edged off by Poland 20-19 and won over Belgium 18-16.

China's women's team will meet Italy and France on Monday as men's team will face Latvia and the Netherlands. The U.S. women's team will play Romania and the ROC. Serbia's men's squad will clash with Poland and Belgium.

Eight men's teams and eight women's teams are competing in the 3x3 basketball tournaments. In the pool round, eight teams compete in one pool. Each team plays every other team in the pool in a single round-robin format.

The six best placed teams in the pool round proceed to the knock-out round, while the remaining two teams are eliminated. The best two placed teams proceed directly to the semifinals, while the next four teams proceed to the quarterfinals.