Ukraine won two gold medals at the 3x3 Basketball World Championship

The Ukrainian Deaflympic teams won two championship titles at the 3x3 Basketball World Championship in Serbia. The women’s team and the Ukraine-1 men’s team won gold, while another men’s team finished the tournament in fifth place.

The 3x3 Deaflympic World Basketball Championship concluded in the Serbian city of Zlatibor. Ukraine was represented at the tournament by three teams—two men’s and one women’s. At the end of the championship, the Ukrainians won two gold medals, and the Ukraine-2 men’s team took fifth place.

The women’s team confidently advanced to the final

The Ukrainian women’s team consisted of Ksenia Afanasyeva, Oleksandra Semenchuk, Olena Khoroshikh, and Kateryna Chernysh. The Ukrainian women got off to a very strong start in the tournament. In their first match, they crushed Mongolia 21–2. After that, the team defeated Italy 22–16. The next day, the Ukrainian women continued their winning streak. First, they beat Poland-2 21–12, and then defeated Lithuania-1 19–11.

In the quarterfinals, Ukraine faced the United States. Our basketball players once again gave their opponents no chance, winning 21–10. In the next match, the Ukrainian women defeated Taiwan 21–12. In the semifinals, Ukraine faced Lithuania. This match also ended in a decisive victory for our team—21–10. Thus, the Ukrainian women reached the final undefeated.

In the final, Ukraine defeated Poland

In the decisive match, the Ukrainian national team faced Poland-1. The final also ended in Ukraine’s favor. Our basketball players won with a score of 21–14 and became world champions. For the women’s team, this was their seventh win of the tournament.

The Ukrainian Men’s Team-1 also took gold

The Ukrainians claimed another championship title in the men’s tournament. Vitaliy Bykov, Yevhen Brechko, Maksym Mykhailov, and Andriy Raus played for the Ukraine-1 national team. The men’s team also started the tournament with a string of victories. The Ukrainians defeated Venezuela 21–15, Taiwan 21–7, and then Lithuania-1 22–14. Next, Ukraine-1 defeated Poland-2 21–12.

In the next match, the Ukrainians defeated Poland-1, 21–16, and then easily beat Greece, 21–7. In the semifinals, the Ukrainian team faced Venezuela again. The match ended with a 21–15 victory for Ukraine. After that, the Ukrainians faced the tournament’s final match.

In the final, the Ukrainians defeated the hosts

In the men’s tournament final, Ukraine-1 faced the Serbian national team, which was playing on home turf. The match turned out to be much more intense than many of the Ukrainians’ previous games. However, our team managed to secure the victory.

Ukraine-1 defeated Serbia 21–17 and won the World Championship gold medal. Thus, the Ukrainian men’s national team also finished the tournament undefeated.

Ukraine-2 finished fifth

The third Ukrainian team—Ukraine-2—finished the championship in fifth place. The team consisted of Yegor Kropyv’yansky, Ivan Kulikov, Yaroslav Stryzhak, and Myroslav Tkalenko. The Ukrainians also secured several important victories during the group stage.

In particular, they defeated Serbia’s second team 21–5 and Greece 21–9. As a result, Ukraine-2 played in the fifth-place match. In that match, the Ukrainians faced Slovenia and won 14–10. Thus, the team finished the World Championship in fifth place.

Ukraine finished the World Championship with two gold medals

Thus, out of the three Ukrainian teams, two became world champions. The Ukrainian women’s national team won all of its matches and defeated Poland-1 in the final, 21–14.

The Ukrainian men’s team-1 also did not lose a single match and defeated the tournament hosts, Serbia, in the final—21–17. Ukraine-2 took fifth place, defeating Slovenia in the 5th–6th place match. As a result, the Ukrainian Deaflympic teams will bring home two gold medals and a fifth-place finish from the World Championships in Zlatibor. The results were reported by the press service of the Ukrainian Basketball Federation.

Nigerian tennis player Oluwaseun Ogunsakin is set to make his debut in the main draw of the US Open Junior Tennis Championships in New York. In the first round, the 17-year-old will face Kuan-Shou Chen of Chinese Taipei, who is ranked 16th in the world junior rankings and is the No. 15 seed in the tournament.

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