The 3×3 basketball tournaments at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games ended on September 25 on a temporary court in front of Kinjō-futō Station, near the port of Nagoya. Republic of Korea won its first men’s gold with a 19–10 victory over Qatar, while Japan claimed its first women’s title by beating the Philippines 21–11. The Filipino women also reached a milestone: they had never finished this high in the Asian Games 3×3 competition.
3×3 made its Asian Games debut at Jakarta 2018, returned at Hangzhou and appeared for a third time at Aichi-Nagoya. Organised as part of the Games by the Olympic Council of Asia -OCA-, the men’s and women’s tournaments were under-23 competitions. They are separate from the Asia Cup run by the International Basketball Federation -FIBA-, although this year several teams carried their form from one continental event into the other.
A covered court by Nagoya’s port
Organisers built the temporary venue in front of Kinjō-futō Station on the Aonami railway line. The court had a roof, but remained exposed to conditions near the waterfront. Wind made outside shooting difficult for Japan in its opening games, and rain arrived later in the tournament. The Japanese Olympic Committee reported that spectators still came to watch despite the weather. The court was visible as soon as passengers left the station.
The venue gave 3×3 a distinctive place within the Games: a medal event staged for a few days in a station square, away from the arena used for five-a-side basketball. At Jakarta 2018, the discipline’s first Asian Games appearance brought together 36 teams from 21 countries. Eight years later, Aichi-Nagoya again awarded men’s and women’s 3×3 titles, with national federations also fielding young teams across other international competitions.
Republic of Korea adds 3×3 gold to its basketball title
Republic of Korea reached the men’s final after five wins and finished unbeaten with a 6–0 record. Its four players were the same ones who had taken silver at the FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup in April. Lee Ju-yeong scored nine points against Qatar and credited the victory to “our energy and our strong stamina”. The gold completed a basketball double for the Korean delegation: five days earlier, its men’s team had won the five-a-side tournament.
Japan’s route to the women’s title was very different. It lost its first two games, against Chinese Taipei and Iran, and had to win its next match to stay in contention. Yuki Hirashita had joined the squad at short notice as an injury replacement; she was also from the host prefecture of Aichi. Japan went on to eliminate China, winners of the previous two editions, in the quarter-finals and beat Republic of Korea, which had defeated it in the group stage, in the semi-finals. Hirashita scored nine points in the final and Sakura Horiuchi added eight. “I knew that a 2-pointer would provide the knockout punch, so I thought to just be aggressive and go for it,” Hirashita said of the shot that sealed the 21–11 win.
The Philippines reaches another continental final
The Philippines’ silver came months after its women’s team reached a FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup final for the first time. At the Asian Games, it won every group game and beat Singapore and Thailand on its way to the gold-medal match. Amyah Espanol reflected on taking home a medal: “We really tried our hardest. We’re glad we get to bring something back to the Philippines to show for it.” Republic of Korea took women’s bronze with a 21–8 victory over Thailand.
Qatar, too, found itself in a familiar final. It had taken men’s silver at Hangzhou and again finished one win short of gold in Nagoya. “It’s bittersweet. We still got a medal, but we came up short for what was our goal,” Nazar Mahmoud said after the defeat to Republic of Korea. Iran completed the men’s podium by beating the Philippines 21–10 in the bronze-medal game.
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