With a convincing victory over the Maldives team – 22:2, the national team of Turkmenistan started in the 3x3 basketball tournament at the XIX Summer Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China. It took only 6 minutes and 55 seconds for Toili Bairiev's wards to defeat the opponent with a difference of 20 points.
The 3x3 basketball tournament at the Asian Games involves players under the age of 23. 19 teams, divided into 4 groups, take part in the men's competition. The national team of Turkmenistan and teams of Japan, the Republic of Korea, Iran and the Maldives play in group "B". The compositions of other groups are: "A" – Mongolia, Taiwan, Philippines, Hong Kong, Jordan; "C" – China, India, Malaysia, Macau; "D" – Qatar, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia.
In another match of the first round in our group, the national team of the Republic of Korea won against the team of Iran – 21:12.
According to the tournament regulations, the winners of the groups will immediately advance to the quarterfinals. And the teams that took 2-3 places in the groups will compete for the right to play in the 1/4 finals.
3x3 basketball originated from streetball, which was popular in US cities in the late 1980s. This is a simplified version of basketball played in courtyards and parks, and which became a cultural phenomenon.
The rules of the 3x3 basketball game are slightly different from classic basketball. Teams of three people with 1 substitute player play on one hoop on half of the standard court. The number of substitutions is unlimited.
A 3x3 basketball game lasts 10 minutes of net playing time or ends after one of the teams scores 21 points. If 10 minutes of game time have expired and the score is tied, the referee appoints 5 minutes of extra time. The team that scored 2 points in overtime wins.
Unlike classic 5x5 basketball, where the attack lasts 24 seconds, in 3x3 basketball a team can only own the ball for 12 seconds. This rule was invented to make the game look more dynamic.
A team gets two points for an accurate shot from behind the standard three-point arc. Closer shots and penalties are estimated at one point.
There are no personal foul in 3x3 basketball. Starting from the 7th team foul, the referee appoints two free throws for any violation. Starting from the 10th team foul, for any violation, the team is punished with two penalty points without a rebound, and the ball goes to the opponent.
Coach in 3x3 basketball can be located within the court. As a rule, he is in the stands. For any hints from the coach, the team can be penalized with a technical foul.
Official 3x3 basketball competitions are usually held outdoors.
The basketball team of Turkmenistan at the Asian Games in Hangzhou is represented by: captain Yevgeniy Nazipov, Dovlet Narmyradov, Maksat Khojaberdyev and Kirill Besh. In this composition, the guys already played in June of this year at the rating tournament – the National League of U23 – in Qatar, where they took 2nd place in the overall standings among 4 teams, including basketball players from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar.
In August, the 3x3 basketball team of Turkmenistan, for which Dovlet Narmyradov, Maksat Khojaberdyev and Kirill Besh played, entered the top four teams among the eight at the II CIS Games in Belarus, defeating rivals from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in the group, and Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals.
Turkmen basketball players will meet with the Japanese team in the next round at the Asian Games in Hangzhou.
The 3x3 basketball tournament in the program of the XIX Summer Asian Games will end on October 1.
