Alotau hosts 3×3 tourney

THE Alotau Basketball Association hosted its first 3×3 basketball tournament over the weekend to build interest among town residents, an official says.
Basketball Federation PNG’s Hoops for Health programme coordinator Jordan Sere, who visited the Milne Bay town recently, said the newly introduced concept gained a lot of interest from both junior and seniors who registered their teams to compete.
“The 3×3 tournament was aimed at getting the interest from all the main clubs and interested members who wanted to participate. It was aimed at bringing in the kids from the schools in Alotau town,” Sere said.
“First time for them to host 3×3 tournament and teams came from their main basketball clubs that take part in the association. A few schools such as Alotau International sent their junior teams.
“Since there will be a national championship here (Port Moresby) in July, it (tournament) was used to build up the interest for both juniors and seniors and prepare for selections for their association.”
He said the competition was hosted in four divisions and registered teams to play the weekend matches that concluded with the finals on Sunday.
“We had Under-15 mixed, the U23 men’s, the open men’s and the senior women’s and it was a great turnout throughout the tournament,” Sere said. The finals fixtures saw the Alotau International School defeat Chiefs in the U15 mixed division while the U23 men’s and the senior women’s saw the Iron Birds defeat Bulls in the 10-minute competition.
In the men’s finals, it came down to the final straw between Chiefs Team 1 and Iron Birds Team 2 that saw the Birds claim their first 3×3 title.