Belgium won their first two games in the men’s 3×3 Basketball World Cup tournament on Tuesday at Antwerp’s Groenplaats.
After a 21-16 victory over Slovenia in the late afternoon, Nick Celis, Thibaut Vervoort, Maxime Depuydt and Bryan De Valck defeated Egypt (FIBA 17) 21-12 in their second match, Belga News Agency reported.
The start of the game was balanced (1-1, 3-4, 4-5) before the Lions broke 11-6. They then controlled the match (15-8, 18-10).
In the other Pool D matches, Austria beat Egypt 22-8 and then lost to USA 21-17.
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The Belgian side, 4th in the FIBA ranking, are playing their first 3×3 World Cup after finishing 4th at the Tokyo Olympics last summer. They will play again in their group on Thursday against the United States (FIBA 5) at 17:30 and Austria (FIBA 13) at 21:35.
Belgium is represented in the women’s tournament. The Cats women's team (47th in the FIBA ranking) of Ine Joris, Julie Vanloo, Laure Resimont and Becky Massey will play in Group C from Wednesday. They will first encounter Mongolia (N.6) at 17:30, then Egypt (N.13) at 21:35. Friday, it will be Poland (N.2) at 17:30 and the Dominican Republic (N.22) at 21:35 who will face them.
The winner of each group qualifies for the quarter-finals. The teams ranked 2nd and 3rd face each other in the round of 16. The round of 16 and quarter-finals will be played on Saturday. Semi-finals and finals for bronze and gold will follow on Sunday. The ladies’ final will start at 20:55 and the men’s at 21:30.
