UMAG RECAP
On Friday and Saturday, June 2 and 3, 2023, in the wonderful Istrian city of Umag, after Hvar and Trogir, the third two-day tournament in 3×3 basketball was successfully held as part of this year’s PRO 3×3 Tour. For the second year in a row, this interesting competition is organized at the same attractive location, Trg slobode (Freedom Square) in the very center of the city, in cooperation with the Udruga PRO 3×3 (PRO 3×3 Association), the City of Umag and the Tourist Board of the City of Umag.
Many gathered, residents of Umag as well as domestic and foreign tourists, witnessed the skills of the players, dynamics and exceptional energy of the gathered strong 3×3 teams, in excellent weather and in a great location, who delighted with their approach and performance on both days. On the first day (Friday, June 2), interesting qualifying trials were held in the Senior Elite category, and then on the second day (Saturday, June 3), the best four teams competed in the semifinals and finals. In the final game, two teams, made up of players who are candidates for the Croatian national team in 3×3 basketball, played. The victory and the cash prize of 2,000 euros went to the Cro 1 team, which was consisted of: Jure Gunjina, Željko Jović, Stipe Krstanović and Ivan Rašetina. The second-placed Cro 2 team received the sum of 800 euros, and the third place and a prize of 400 euros in the senior competition was won by the Poliklinika Ribnjak team. In addition to tense matches that were watched with bated breath, many younger and older spectators participated in interesting additional content between matches, such as shooting doubles and free throws, and the best won valuable prizes from sponsors. Special attention was drawn to the shooting competition between selected players from four teams in the semi-finals, in which Dean Popović, a member of the Zagreb 3BL team, won.
Zlatko Mateša, president of the Hrvatski olimpijski odbor (Croatian Olympic Committee), gave the organizers an exceptional honor. He was present on the second day of the tournament, saw for himself what the new Olympic sport looks like and handed out prizes to the winners. “3×3 basketball is a new, young Olympic sport. It offers top-class basketball, but it also enables children to play this wonderful sport that does not require a large infrastructure. It is enough to return to some old places where basketball used to be played and thereby give a new value to basketball as a whole. That’s what this PRO 3×3 Tour does,” emphasized Zlatko Mateša.
On behalf of the organizers, Ivan Paić, president of the Organizing Committee of the PRO 3×3 Tour 2023, expressed his satisfaction with another well-run tournament. “We are happy that Umag was once again an excellent host of the PRO 3×3 Tour 2023 and hosted the best Croatian 3×3 players with its famous Istrian hospitality. The two teams made up of Croatian representatives had strong challengers in the first place from Zagreb and Rijeka, which resulted in a fight for every ball until the very end and, in the most uncertain tournament of this year’s PRO 3×3 Tour so far, provided numerous spectators along the field and on small screens with a handful attractive moves that can only be seen in 3×3 matches. We wish the 3×3 national team of Croatia success in the qualifications for the European Championship next weekend. Also, we would like to thank the Croatian Olympic Committee and its president, Zlatko Mateša, for coming to Umag and the great support that HOO (COO) has been providing us since the very beginning of this great sports event in Croatia.”, said Ivan Paic.
On the second day of the tournament (Saturday, June 3), children and young people had important part. As part of the already traditional Kids Day, many contents and events were organized – educational workshops on the basics and rules of 3×3 basketball, contests in shooting two-pointers and free throws, mutual trials on a real 3×3 playground and more – in which many little ones participated. Among them were small members of the Umag Basketball Club and the Rovinj Basketball Club with their coaches, which is another contribution to expanding the base of the increasingly popular 3×3 basketball. It was also interesting in the matches of the junior U-19 teams in 3×3 basketball. In the end, the Loptice team celebrated, which was better than the Barakude team in the final. “As organizers and big fans of 3×3 basketball, it was a great pleasure for us to see the happiness and joy on children’s faces during the Kids Day and junior tournament matches when they play their 3×3 games under the same conditions as at the biggest world competitions. This only proves that we are on the right track as the highest quality Croatian platform for the development of this new Olympic sport”, added Ivan Paić.
Milovan Popović, director of the Tourist Board of the city of Umag, emphasized that they are pleased to host the PRO 3×3 Tour for the second year in a row, this time at the beginning of the main tourist season. “This enriches the tourist offer of the city of Umag for those guests who are already here, but also for the residents of Umag themselves, because we have seen that it is a dynamic and attractive sport that attracts many spectators and tourists. We have already agreed in principle that next year a new tournament will be held in our beautiful city, already the third in a row within the framework of the PRO 3×3 Tour,” Milovan Popović concluded.
As a reminder, the second season of the PRO 3×3 Tour will be held until August 12, 2023, at top locations in 10 cities across Croatia. The tournament in Umag concluded the first third of this year’s Tour, organized in three cities on the Adriatic – Hvar, Trogir and Umag. Now there is a short break, and then the PRO 3×3 Tour 2023 continues in Slavonia – June 21 and 22 in Vinkovci and June 23 and 24 in Osijek.
The PRO 3×3 Tour is organized by the Udruga PRO 3×3 (PRO 3×3 Association), with the support of the Croatian Tourist Board, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Croatia and the company Energy Basket d.o.o. Sponsors are HEP, Jamnica ProSport, Jana Sport, Bigraf, Hell and Lenovo. Media sponsors and partners are Sportklub, Sportnet.hr and Pixsell Photo & Video Agency.
See you soon in Vinkovci and Osijek!
#budiPRO
#budidioprice
#smallcourtbigdreams
#croatiafulloflife
#HEP
U petak i subotu, 2. i 3. lipnja 2023., u predivnom istarskom gradu Umagu uspješno je, nakon Hvara i Trogira, održan i treći dvodnevni turnir u 3×3 košarci u okviru ovogodišnjeg PRO 3×3 Toura. Drugu godinu zaredom ovo je zanimljivo natjecanje organizirano na istoj atraktivnoj lokaciji, Trgu slobode u samom središtu grada, u suradnji Udruge PRO 3×3, Grada Umaga i Turističke zajednice grada Umaga.
Mnoštvo okupljenih, stanovnici Umaga te domaći i inozemni turisti, po odličnom su vremenu i na sjajnoj lokaciji svjedočili vještinama igrača, dinamici i iznimnoj energiji okupljenih jakih 3×3 momčadi koje su oba dana oduševile svojim pristupom i izvedbom. Prvoga dana (petak, 2. lipnja) održana su zanimljivi kvalifikacijski ogledi u Senior Elite kategoriji, a potom su drugoga dana (subota, 3. lipnja) najbolje četiri ekipe odmjerile snage u polufinalu i finalu. U završnoj utakmici zaigrale su dvije ekipe za koje igraju kandidati za nacionalnu hrvatsku reprezentaciju u 3×3 košarci. Pobjedu i novčanu nagradu od 2.000 eura na kraju je odnijela momčad Cro 1 koja je nastupila u sastavu: Jure Gunjina, Željko Jović, Stipe Krstanović i Ivan Rašetina. Drugoplasiranoj ekipi Cro 2 pripao je iznos od 800 eura, a treće mjesto i nagrada od 400 eura u seniorskoj konkurenciji osvojila je ekipa Poliklinika Ribnjak. Osim napetih utakmica koje su se gledale bez daha, brojni mlađi i stariji gledatelji sudjelovali su u zanimljivim dodatnim sadržajima između utakmica, poput šutiranja dvica i slobodnih bacanja, a najbolji su osvojili vrijedne nagrade sponzora. Posebnu pozornost privuklo je nadmetanje u šutiranju između odabranih igrača iz četiri ekipe u poluzavršnici, u kojem je pobijedio Dean Popović, član momčadi Zagreb 3BL.
Iznimnu je čast organizatorima ukazao Zlatko Mateša, predsjednik Hrvatskog olimpijskog odbora, koji je bio nazočan drugom danu turnira, uživo se uvjerio kako izgleda novi olimpijski sport te uručio nagrade pobjednicima. “3×3 košarka je novi, mladi olimpijski sport. On nudi i vrhunsku košarku, ali jednako tako i omogućuje da se djeca bave ovim prekrasnim sportom za kojega ne treba velika infrastruktura. Dovoljno se vratiti na neka stara mjesta gdje se nekada igrao basket i time dati jednu novu vrijednost košarci u cjelini. To ovaj PRO 3×3 Tour i čini.”, naglasio je Zlatko Mateša.
U ime organizatora zadovoljstvo još jednim kvalitetno realiziranim turnirom iznio je Ivan Paić, predsjednik Organizacijskog odbora PRO 3×3 Tour 2023. “Sretni smo što je Umag ponovo bio odličan domaćin PRO 3×3 Toura 2023 i svojim poznatim istarskim gostoprimstvom ugostio trenutno najbolje hrvatske 3×3 igrače. Dvije ekipe sastavljene od hrvatskih reprezentativaca imale su jake izazivače u prvom redu iz Zagreba i Rijeke, što je rezultiralo borbom za svaku loptu do samog kraja i, u do sada najneizvjesnijem turniru ovogodišnjeg PRO 3×3 Toura, osiguralo brojnim gledateljima uz teren i putem malih ekrana pregršt atraktivnih poteza koji se mogu vidjeti samo na 3×3 utakmicama. 3×3 reprezentaciji Hrvatske želimo puno uspjeha idućega vikenda u kvalifikacijama za Europsko prvenstvo, a Hrvatskom olimpijskom odboru i predsjedniku, gospodinu Zlatku Mateši, želimo zahvaliti na dolasku u Umag i velikoj podršci koju nam HOO pruža od samog početka ovog velikog sportskog događaja u Hrvatskoj.”, rekao je Ivan Paić.
Drugoga dana turnira (subota, 3. lipnja) na svoje su ponovno došli djeca i mladi. U sklopu već tradicionalnog Kids Daya organizirani su bogati sadržaji i događanja – edukativne radionice o osnovama i pravilima 3×3 košarke, natjecanja u šutiranju dvica i slobodnih bacanja, međusobni ogledi na pravom 3×3 igralištu i drugo – u kojima su sudjelovali brojni mališani. Među njima su bili i mali članovi Košarkaškog kluba Umag i Košarkaškog kluba Rovinj sa svojim trenerima, što je još jedan doprinos širenju baze sve popularnije 3×3 košarke. Zanimljivo je bilo i u utakmicama juniorskih U-19 ekipa u 3×3 košarci. Na kraju je slavila ekipa Loptice koja je u finalu bila bolja od momčadi Barakude. “Kao organizatorima i velikim zaljubljenicima u 3×3 košarku, veliko nam je zadovoljstvo bilo vidjeti sreću i veselje na dječjim licima tijekom utakmica Kids daya i juniorskog turnira u trenutku kada svoje 3×3 utakmice odigraju u jednakim uvjetima kao i na najvećim svjetskim natjecanjima. To samo dokazuje da smo na pravom putu kao najkvalitetnija hrvatska platforma za razvoj ovog novog olimpijskog sporta”, dodao je Ivan Paić.
Milovan Popović, direktor Turističke zajednice grada Umaga, naglasio je kako su zadovoljni što su drugu godinu zaredom domaćini PRO 3×3 Toura, ovaj put na početku glavne turističke sezone. “To obogaćuje turističku ponudu grada Umaga i za one goste koji se već nalaze ovdje, ali i i za same stanovnike Umaga jer smo se uvjerili kako je to jedan dinamičan i atraktivan sport koji privlači brojne gledatelje i turiste. Već smo načelno dogovorili da će se iduće godine u našem lijepom gradu održati novi, već treći po redu turnir u okviru PRO 3×3 Toura.”, zaključio je Milovan Popović.
Podsjetimo, druga sezona PRO 3×3 Toura do 12. kolovoza 2023. održava se na atraktivnim lokacijama 10 gradova diljem Hrvatske. Turnirom u Umagu zaključena je prva trećina ovogodišnjeg Toura, realizirana u tri grada na Jadranu – Hvaru, Trogiru i Umagu. Sada slijedi kratka stanka, a potom se PRO 3×3 Tour 2023. nastavlja u Slavoniji – 21. i 22. lipnja u Vinkovcima te 23. i 24. lipnja u Osijeku.
PRO 3×3 Tour organizira Udruga PRO 3×3, uz potporu Hrvatske turističke zajednice, Ministarstva turizma i sporta Republike Hrvatske te tvrtke Energy Basket d.o.o. Sponzori su HEP, Jamnica ProSport, Jana Sport, Bigraf, Hell i Lenovo. Medijski pokrovitelji i partneri su Sportklub, Sportnet.hr i Pixsell Photo & Video Agency.
Vidimo se uskoro u Vinkovcima i Osijeku!
WINNERS
CRO 1
