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Tribune News Network
DOHA
Former champions Qatar went down to Slovenia in a tight finish in the quarter-finals of the FIBA 3x3 World Cup in Nantes, France on Wednesday.
The 2014 champions Qatar had a bad start as they missed a few shots and last edition's third-place winners Slovenia went 7-2 up. Though Qatar managed to fight back through Abdulrahman Saad, Tanguy Ngombo, captain Erfan Ali Saeed and Fadi Hani Abilmona, they ran out of time before losing 18-15.
Apart from Slovenia, reigning champions Serbia, France and the Netherlands grabbed other semi-final spots.
This was followed by double winners Serbia, represented by world No. 1 player Du'9aan Domovif1'e6 Bulut, Marko Savi'e6, Marko Zdero and Dejan Majstorovi'e6, coming within a match of defending the title. They outclassed hosts France 22-11 in one semi-final, while the Netherlandsf0' Jesper Jobse, Joey Schelvis, Sjoerd van Vilsteren and Bas Rozendaal
made it to the first final, holding off Slovenia 13-12 in other clash.
After the quarter-final loss, El Jaish point guard Abilmona rued for poor start against Slovenia and said,"We started badly and could not get lead in the game. We trailed 2-7 and we knew it was going to be too difficult to make up for.
"Still we used our experience and mounted a serious comeback. In the end, we lost by three points and certainly, it was a close game," he added.
Abilmona added the preparations of other teams were outstanding and the lack of knowledge about the opponents was another factor which went against Qatar.
"I think other teams are very well-oiled and prepared. They have been just playing 3x3 round the year and they are figuring in all the 3x3 events all over the world. The drawback for us is we have to focus on normal 5x5 game for our respective clubs.
"I believe we've a great potential and we can surely be into the finals. Our preparations should be better next time. We fought in every game and we'd have surely liked to go higher. However, we're glad that we represented Qatar in the best way at this World Cup," added Abilmona.
In the women's section, defending champions Czech Republic led three of four semi-finalists of the 2016 edition into the quarter-finals. Besides them, runners-up Ukraine, fourth-placed Spain, Russia, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Italy and Hungary were other qualifiers.
