Qatar Basketball

3x3 - Stellar Qatar takes home 3x3 World Champs trophy

MOSCOW (3x3) - When it looked like history repeating two years after Athens with US women retaining their title and Serbia's men in the final, Qatar had maybe their best game of the tournament (18-13) and enjoyed a historic win at the 2014 FIBA 3x3 World Championships on 8 June 2014 in Moscow, Russia.

"This is the first time Qatar wins a major international event. It never happened in football, in volleyball, in handball," lanky captain Yaseen Musa rejoiced.

"It is one the best moments of my career and it shows that there is  an opportunity for smaller nations like Qatar to be successful."

Not only did Qatar bring the best basketball talents in the country -  featuring Musa but also the intimidating Erfan Ali Saeed, rebounding  machine Mohammed Seleem Abdulla and dribbling wizard Boney Watson - they  also spent the last two years getting used to the game, a preparation  that saw them climb from 3x3 FIBA Asia champion at home in 2013 to the  world title this year.

In the final, Qatar locked the paint and held the attacking-minded  Serbia to a tournament-low 13 points. Saeed wowed the Russian crowds  with several world-class post moves and US-born Boney Watson  relentlessly shook his defender, drove hard and finished at the rim. He  topped all scorers with 8 points in the final.

The local fans erupted in the bronze medal match when Mihail Gunter  took giant steps to the rim and gave Russia the lead with two seconds  left to play. It was another crushing defeat for Lithuania who had lost  in overtime against Qatar in the semi-finals just a few hours earlier.