OSIJEK RECAP
The PRO 3×3 Tour basketball spectacle, which represents a unique combination of sport, education and entertainment, visited Osijek again, just like last year, in the second half of June. The Osijek tournament was played on Friday and Saturday (June 23 and 24), again at the main Ante Starčević Square, attracting to the stands and the area around the playground several thousand Osijek residents and Croatian and foreign guests of the City on the Drava during the two days.
After three Adriatic destinations – Hvar, Trogir and Umag – the PRO 3×3 Tour 2023, a series of international tournaments in 3×3 basketball, had a Slavonian mini-tour as just before Osijek, the competition was also held in Vinkovci (June 21 and 22). The Osijek tournament brought together a number of strong and experienced teams from several European countries, including Croatia of course, so a large audience could enjoy the great moves of 3×3 basketball masters for two days. In the grand final of the main Senior Elite category, held on Saturday evening (June 25), the Zagreb 3BL team celebrated in the end, beating their rivals from the Partizan team (Serbia) with a score of 18:15 and winning a valuable cash prize of 2,000 euros. The winning team consisted of: Demian Balaško, Stanko Kujundžić, Dean Popović and Leon Tomić. The second-placed team received the amount of 800 euros, and the third place and a prize of 400 euros in the senior competition was earned by the Aluplastik Živinice team (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Before that, in the also exceptionally high-quality junior U-19 competition, the victory was won by the 3×3 Laćarak team from Serbia, which in the final match was better than the hosts from the KA Osijek team.
The tournament in Osijek was distinguished by rich accompanying content, especially in the entertainment and educational part. During both days of the tournament, many younger and older spectators tried their hand at shooting doubles and free throws and other games between games, and the best won valuable prizes from sponsors and donors. On the second day, in the afternoon, the traditional Kids Day was first organized, as part of which educational workshops were held on the basics and rules of 3×3 basketball, competitions in shooting doubles and free throws, mutual trials on a real 3×3 playground and more. The audience was entertained by the excellent performances of the Dance Studio Illusion and Dance Studio Tribe, as well as by the young Osijek singer and dancer Noelle. A special attraction in the prime-time slot (on Saturday evening) was again the exhibition basketball match between Narod (the People) vs. Vlast (the Government), in which the leaders and representatives of the City of Osijek measured their strength against “the rest of the world”. The government appeared in a strong composition – mayor Ivan Radić; Deputy Mayor Dragan Vulin; Robert Seligman, Croatian gymnast representative and director of Osijek’s Sports Facilities, and Andrej Beck, general secretary of the Osijek Sports Association. The people were represented by Dragan Knežević, Gordan Šestić, Krešimir Kovačević and Vedran Drabek, and the victory was won again, as last year, by the Government. By the way, the second day of the tournament was also the main program of this year’s first Osijek Summer Night organized by the City of Osijek and the Tourist Board of the City of Osijek.
Ivan Paić, president of the Organizing Committee of PRO 3×3 Tour 2023, was extremely satisfied with the whole event. “The two-day tournament in Osijek exceeded even our expectations, which were high after last year’s excellent tournament in Osijek. On behalf of the organizers, I would especially like to praise the great supply of accompanying content, and I would like to thank our local partners – especially the City of Osijek, the Tourist Board of the City of Osijek and the basketball associations of the City of Osijek and Osijek-Baranja County – for their great effort. I’m glad that we started this excellent 3×3 story in the biggest city of Slavonia, which is obviously getting more and more popular among children and young people. Therefore, I believe that this sport has a bright future, not only in Osijek,” said Ivan Paić on behalf of the main organizer, the PRO 3×3 Association.
Ivan Matančić, the president of the Basketball Association of Osijek-Baranja County, who presented awards and recognition to the best in the junior and senior competitions, has nothing but words of praise. “For two days in Osijek, we watched top-class 3×3 basketball as part of the PRO 3×3 Tour. I am glad that the citizens of Osijek and the neighboring counties recognized last year’s tournament and 3×3 basketball as a new urban and Olympic sport whose energy and attractiveness captures the attention of spectators. Likewise, it was nice to see a large number of children as part of Kids day, and we could see that young people from Osijek love basketball as part of the junior U-19 part of the tournament, where the boys gave their all and showed on the field that in the future the city of Osijek can count on good results in 3×3 basketball. In the exhibition match, Mayor Ivan Radić showed that he is not only a politician by vocation, but also an excellent basketball player, and this year he led his team to another victory,” says Ivan Matančić. He adds that the senior part of the tournament was high level, especially the finale where everyone gathered had the opportunity to watch top teams from Croatia and neighboring countries. “Osijek and its citizens once again confirmed that Osijek is a city of sports. I would like to thank the PRO 3×3 Association for recognizing good co-organizers in the city of Osijek and the County0s Basketball Association and organizing the tournament in our city. Finally, we would like to thank the City of Osijek, the Tourist Board of the City of Osijek, the Association of Osijek Sport and the Osijek Sports Facilities without whose help we would not be able to organize this 3×3 basketball event. I would also like to thank our partners – Osječka pivovara, Decathlon, the companies Cesting d.o.o. Osijek, Kanaan, Mlakar viličari and Visina, Franz Koch restaurant and all the volunteers who helped organize the tournament”, thanked Matančić.
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, and with the Osijek tournament, the fifth in a row, this year’s edition has reached its halfway mark. Now comes a short break, and the capital of Croatia, Zagreb, will be the sixth stop of this 3×3 caravan, on July 14 and 15, 2023.
The PRO 3×3 Tour is organized by the 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 Zagreb!
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Košarkaški spektakl PRO 3×3 Tour, koji predstavlja jedinstvenu kombinaciju sporta, edukacije i zabave, ponovno je, kao i prošle godine u drugoj polovici lipnja, posjetio Osijek. Osječki je turnir odigran u petak i subotu (23. i 24. lipnja), ponovno na glavnom gradskom Trgu Ante Starčevića, a u dva dana uživo je na tribine i prostor oko igrališta privukao nekoliko tisuća Osječana te hrvatskih i inozemnih gostiju Grada na Dravi.
Nakon tri jadranske destinacije – Hvara, Trogira i Umaga – PRO 3×3 Tour 2023., serija međunarodnih turnira u 3×3 košarci, imao je slavonsku mini-turneju jer je netom prije Osijeka natjecanje održano i u Vinkovcima (21. i 22. lipnja). Osječki je turnir okupio niz snažnih i iskusnih ekipa iz nekoliko europskih zemalja, uključujući naravno i Hrvatsku pa je brojna publika dva dana mogla uživati u sjajnim potezima 3×3 košarkaških majstora. U velikom finalu u glavnoj Senior Elite kategoriji, odigranom u subotu navečer (25. lipnja) na kraju je slavila momčad Zagreb 3BL koja je rezultatom 18:15 nadvisila suparnike iz ekipe Partizan (Srbija) i osvojila vrijednu novčanu nagradu od 2.000 eura. Pobjednička momčad nastupila je u sastavu: Demian Balaško, Stanko Kujundžić, Dean Popović i Leon Tomić. Drugoplasiranoj ekipi pripao je iznos od 800 eura, a treće mjesto i nagradu od 400 eura u seniorskoj konkurenciji zaslužila je ekipa Aluplastik Živinice (Bosna i Hercegovina). Prije toga, u također iznimno kvalitetnoj juniorskoj U-19 konkurenciji, pobjedu je odnijela ekipa 3×3 Laćarak iz Srbije koja je u završnom dvoboju bila bolja od domaćina iz momčadi KA Osijek.
Osječki turnir odlikovali su bogati popratni sadržaji, osobito u zabavnom i edukativnom dijelu. Mnogi mlađi i stariji gledatelji tijekom oba dana turnira su se između utakmica okušali u šutiranju dvica i slobodnih bacanja te drugim igrama, a najbolji su osvojili vrijedne nagrade sponzora i donatora. Drugoga dana u poslijepodnevnim satima prvo je organiziran već tradicionalni Kids Day, u sklopu kojega su održane 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. Gledatelje su svojim odličnim nastupima zabavili Plesni studio Illusion i Dance studio Tribe, kao i mlada osječka pjevačica i plesačica Noelle. Posebna je atrakcija u prime-time terminu (u subotu u večernjim satima) ponovno bila revijalna košarkaška utakmica Narod vs. Vlast, u kojoj su čelnici i predstavnici Grada Osijeka odmjerili snage protiv “ostatka svijeta”. Vlast je nastupila u jakom sastavu – gradonačelnik Ivan Radić; zamjenik gradonačelnika Dragan Vulin; Robert Seligman, hrvatski gimnastički reprezentativac i direktor Športskih objekata grada Osijeka te Andrej Beck, glavni tajnik Zajednice osječkog sporta. Narod su pak zastupali Dragan Knežević, Gordan Šestić, Krešimir Kovačević i Vedran Drabek, a pobjedu je opet, kao i lani, odnijela Vlast. Inače, drugi je dan turnira ujedno bio i glavni program prve ovogodišnje Osječke ljetne noći koju organiziraju Grad Osijek i Turistička zajednica grada Osijeka.
Cijelim je događajem iznimno zadovoljan bio Ivan Paić, predsjednik Organizacijskog odbora PRO 3×3 Toura 2023. “Dvodnevni osječki turnir čak je nadmašio naša očekivanja koja su nakon prošlogodišnjeg odličnog turnira u Osijeku bila visoka. Posebno bih u ime organizatora pohvalio veliku ponudu popratnih sadržaja, a našim lokalnim partnerima – osobito Gradu Osijeku, Turističkoj zajednici grada Osijeka i košarkaškim savezima grada Osijeka i Osječko-baranjske županije – zahvaljujem na velikom uloženom trudu. Drago mi što smo u najvećem slavonskom gradu pokrenuli ovu odličnu 3×3 priču koja, se, vidljivo je, sve više prima i među djecom i mladima. Stoga vjerujem da ovaj sport ima svijetlu budućnost, ne samo u Osijeku”, rekao je Ivan Paić u ime glavnog organizatora, Udruge PRO 3×3.
Samo riječi hvale ima i Ivan Matančić, predsjednik Košarkaškog saveza Osječko-baranjske županije, koji je i uručio nagrade i priznanja najboljima u juniorskoj i seniorskoj konkurenciji. “Dva dana u Osijeku gledali smo vrhunsku 3×3 košarku u sklopu PRO 3×3 Toura. Drago mi je da su građani Osijeka, a i susjednih županija prepoznali prošlogodišnji turnir i 3×3 košarku kao novi urbani i olimpijski sport čija energija i atraktivnost plijeni pažnju gledatelja. Isto tako, bilo je lijepo vidjeti velik broj djece u sklopu Kids day, a da mladi Osječani vole basket mogli smo se uvjeriti u sklopu juniorskog U-19 dijela turnira, gdje su dečki dali sve od sebe te na terenu pokazali da u budućnosti grad Osijek može računati na dobre rezultate u 3×3 košarci. U revijalnoj utakmici, gradonačelnik Ivan Radić pokazao je da po vokaciji nije samo političar nego i odličan košarkaš te je i ove godine predvodio svoju momčad do nove pobjede”, navodi Ivan Matančić. Dodaje kako je seniorski dio turnira bio na visokoj razini, pogotovo završnica gdje su okupljeni imali prigodu gledati vrhunske ekipe iz Hrvatske i susjednih zemalja. “Osijek i njegovi građani još su jednom potvrdili da je Osijek grad sporta. Zahvalio bih Udruzi PRO 3×3 što je u gradu Osijeku i KSGO-u prepoznala dobrog suorganizatora i organizirala turnir u našem gradu. Na kraju, posebno zahvaljujemo Gradu Osijeku, TZ-u grada Osijeka, Zajednici osječkog sporta i Športskim objektima bez čije pomoći ne bismo mogli organizirati košarkaški 3×3 event. Isto tako, zahvalio bih našim partnerima – Osječkoj pivovari, Decathlonu, tvrtkama Cesting d.o.o. Osijek, Kanaan, Mlakar viličari i Visina, restoranu Franz Koch te svim volonterima koji su pomogli u organizaciji turnira”, zahvalio je Matančić.
Podsjetimo, druga sezona PRO 3×3 Toura do 12. kolovoza 2023. održava se na top lokacijama 10 gradova diljem Hrvatske, a osječkim turnirom, petim po redu, ovogodišnje je izdanje stiglo do svoje polovice. Sada slijedi kratka stanka, a potom će glavni hrvatski grad Zagreb 14. i 15. srpnja 2023. biti šesta postaja ove 3×3 karavane.
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 Zagrebu!
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