Today marked the first day of the Neom Masters 2024 tournament in Saudi Arabia. Competing for the chance to battle against the world’s top teams were young teams from Saudi Arabia — Dammam, Jeddah, and Makkah — as well as Al Rayyan from Qatar, China’s Hangzhou, and Lithuania’s Plunge. As expected, the foreign teams with titles quickly took the lead in the qualification games — Hangzhou and Plunge.

The tone was set right away by China’s Hangzhou, whose roster consists entirely of Serbian players. In under 9 minutes, they reached the winning score of 21 points, while their opponents — Saudi team Jeddah—achieved the lowest score of the day with just 4 points.

The second team to continue the path set by Hangzhou was Lithuania’s Plunge. Realizing their dominance on the court over Makkah, the Lithuanians began practicing long-range shots, ignoring closer attempts. The final score was 22:13 in favor of Plunge.

Meanwhile, a true battle unfolded between Saudi teams Dammam and Jeddah. The game continued until the final whistle, with neither team giving much ground. Ultimately, Dammam triumphed with a score of 18:14.

Next, Al Rayyan from Qatar faced Makkah, with the match ending at 21:12 in favor of the guests.

Interestingly, Hangzhou could have repeated their sweeping victory in a fresh game against the Saudi team Dammam, as Dammam couldn’t score a single point in the first half, only collecting fouls. However, in the second half, the local team regrouped and managed to reach 9 points. Still, Hangzhou secured victory by scoring 22 points two minutes before the end.

As a result, Hangzhou and Plunge moved on to the second day of the tournament in Neom. Tomorrow, Hangzhou will face Amsterdam and Vienna, while Plunge will go up against Raudondvaris Hoptrans and Miami.

Foto: FIBA 3×3