Rimini 2011: New Zealand Boys, Spain Girls win; India finish in bottom half

The biggest stage of the FIBA 3x3 Basketball format, the 1st Youth World Championship (YWC) for U18 Boys & Girls in Rimini, Italy, concluded on Sunday, September 11th, with New Zealand Boys & Spain Girls being crowned champions. Indian teams, who also took part in the competition, finished in the bottom half of the standings, with the Girls ranking 16th and Boys 29th

In a close final, New Zealand Boys' sneaked past Bulgaria to claim the gold medal at the tournament with a 19-18 win. Bulgaria finished at second place, and hosts Italy received the Bronze medal.

In the Girls' final, Spain were against the host team, Italy, whom they beat in a close game 16-15. Third-place for girls went to Japan.

India's sides didn't have a tournament to remember, but were able to play against teams from all over the world, an experience that the young players are sure to remember forever. In just three days, India's boys played 12 games, against Korea, Puerto Rico, Estonia, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Greece, Tunisia, South Africa, Netherlands, and Singapore. The girls played nine games, against varied nations such as USA (twice), Italy, Sweden, Guam, Sri Lanka, China, Angola, and Ukraine.

Pitted in Group A with eight other teams, India’s boys side started their tournament in side, defeating heavily favoured South Korea 17-16. Unfortunately, their luck turned from there onwards, as India lost their next three match-ups, to Puerto Rico, Estonia, and Slovenia. Before the day ended, India found something to cheer when they defeated Sri Lanka for their second win of the group stage.

After starting the second day with a 2-3 record, India's boys needed a few wins on Saturday to climb up into the top four of Group A to be able to qualify for the knockout round. Unfortunately, India lost all three of their group games on Saturay against Ukraine, Greece, and Tunisia, to find themselves finish at seventh place (out of nine) in their group. India had a 2-6 record in the group stage and found themselves out of contention for the qualifying round. On Saturday evening, India played in a classification game against Egypt, but lost it 19-18.

On the final day, India played three classification games: the Boys lost their first game of the day to South Africa, but their resolve improved from then onwards. India defeated the Netherlands, and in their last game, defeated Singapore in classification games to finish at 29th place (out of 36) in the tournament.

India’s girls, who were in Group C with five other teams, played four matches on Friday. India lost their first three games to difficult opponents – USA, hosts Italy, and Sweden – but managed to safe face before the day finished for a big, 22-8 win over Guam.

On Saturday, the Girls won a crucial game against Sri Lanka, 15-13, to finish in the top four (out of six teams) of their group and qualify for the Knockout round of 16. In the knockout-round, India (ranked 16th) played against USA (ranked 1st) for the second time in two days. USA beat India in this game 15-7. India then played in a 9-16 classification game against China, which they also lost, 16-5.

In the last day of the competition, the team lost both of their matches to Angola and to Ukraine, to finish at 16th place (out of 24) in the championship.

Find all the results for India at Rimini 2011 and more recaps on the BFI's official website.

The 3x3 festival was also marked by a number of individual competitions, such as shooting, free throw, skills, and a dunk contest. India's Loveneet Singh finished tied at third place in the shooting competition.

Final Standings

Boys

1. New Zealand

2. Bulgaria

3. Italy

Girls

1. Spain

2. Italy

3. Japan

Individual Competitions Results:

Dunk Contest

1. Dyshwan Pierre (Canada)

2. Dalibor Fait (Czech Republic)

3= Alex Simeonov (Bulgaria)

3= Alexander Birketoft (Denmark)

Boys Shootout

1. Tencho Tenchev (Bulgaria)

2. Jarred Meno (Guam)

3= Rait Laane (Estonia)

3= Loveneet Singh (India)

Girls Shootout

1. Vasiliki Tarla (Greece)

2. Zhanna Byazrova (Russia)

3= Olivia Thompson (Australia)

3= Sanduni Lokuk Perera (Sri Lanka)

Skills Challenge

1. Pelinberya Bilgic (Turkey)

2. Sarka Jozova (Czech Republic)

3= Hong Yang Cui (China)

3= Tangour Nourhaine (Tunisia)

History of Bulgaria Culture

The history of the land now known as Bulgaria has been determined by its location between Asia and Europe by its proximity to powerful states competing for land and influence at the junction of trade routes and strategic military positions and by the strong national territorial drive of various Bulgarian states. Before the Christian era Greece and Rome conquered the region and left substantial imprints on the culture of the people they found there. The Bulgar tribes who arrived in the seventh century from west of the Urals have occupied the region continuously for thirteen centuries. Over time Bulgarian culture merged with that of the more numerous Slavs who had preceded the Bulgars by one century. After converting to Christianity and adopting a Slavic language in the ninth century the Bulgarians consolidated a distinct Slavic culture that subsequently passed through periods of both expansionist independence and subordination to outside political systems.

From the ninth until the fourteenth century Bulgaria was a dominant force in the Balkans because of its aggressive military tradition and strong sense of national identity. The chief rival and neighbor the Byzantine Empire left a lasting political imprint on two Bulgarian empires as it competed with them for regional domination. Marking the deterioration of both the Byzantine and the Bulgarian political structures the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 began four centuries of Turkish suppression of Bulgarian cultural and political institutions.

By the eighteenth century however weakening Ottoman control allowed a Bulgarian cultural revival. In the next century Western political ideas gradually combined with the reborn Bulgarian national consciousness to form an independence movement. The movement was complicated by internal disagreement on aims and methods the increasing weakness of the Ottoman foothold in Europe and the conflicting attitudes of the major European powers toward Bulgaria. Russia gained distinction as Bulgaria's protector by driving out the Turks in 1877 but France and Britain curbed Russian power in the Balkans by forcing establishment of a limited autonomous Bulgarian state under Turkish rule. The instrument of that limitation the Treaty of Berlin revived longstanding Bulgarian territorial frustrations by placing the critical regions of Macedonia and Thrace beyond Bulgarian control. Both of those disputed regions had substantial Bulgarian populations. During the next sixty years Bulgaria would fight unsuccessfully in four wars in a variety of alliances to redress the grievance. None of the four wars brought substantial new territory to Bulgaria.

Beginning in 1878 Bulgaria was nominally ruled by members of West European royal houses under a parliamentary form of government. Prime Minister Stefan Stambolov unified the country during its first decade but extremist political parties exerted substantial influence from the beginning. Between 1878 and the declaration of full independence in 1908 Bulgaria passed through a period of peaceful modernization with expansion in industry science education and the arts. Modernization and industrialization sowed the seeds of class conflict however nurturing strong socialist and agrarian opposition parties in the decades that followed independence.

The period between 1912 and 1944 was full of irredentist wars and internal political turmoil. By 1900 Serbia and Greece were the major territorial rivals but a World War I alliance with Germany gained Bulgaria little advantage over them. After the war the agrarian reform government of Aleksandur Stamboliiski had failed to unite the country by 1923. The series of unstable factions and forms of government that followed Stamboliiski was broken only by Bulgaria's participation as an Axis ally in World War II. Again no territory was gained but World War II brought Soviet occupation the end of the monarchy and forty-one years of unbroken communist rule beginning in 1946. During that entire period Bulgaria was the closest East European imitator of Soviet internal and foreign policy. The years 1944 through 1989 were a time of collectivization heavy industrialization drastic restriction of human rights and close adherence to Soviet Cold-War policy.

History of Bulgaria Culture

The history of the land now known as Bulgaria has been determined by its location between Asia and Europe by its proximity to powerful states competing for land and influence at the junction of trade routes and strategic military positions and by the strong national territorial drive of various Bulgarian states. Before the Christian era Greece and Rome conquered the region and left substantial imprints on the culture of the people they found there. The Bulgar tribes who arrived in the seventh century from west of the Urals have occupied the region continuously for thirteen centuries. Over time Bulgarian culture merged with that of the more numerous Slavs who had preceded the Bulgars by one century. After converting to Christianity and adopting a Slavic language in the ninth century the Bulgarians consolidated a distinct Slavic culture that subsequently passed through periods of both expansionist independence and subordination to outside political systems.

From the ninth until the fourteenth century Bulgaria was a dominant force in the Balkans because of its aggressive military tradition and strong sense of national identity. The chief rival and neighbor the Byzantine Empire left a lasting political imprint on two Bulgarian empires as it competed with them for regional domination. Marking the deterioration of both the Byzantine and the Bulgarian political structures the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 began four centuries of Turkish suppression of Bulgarian cultural and political institutions.

By the eighteenth century however weakening Ottoman control allowed a Bulgarian cultural revival. In the next century Western political ideas gradually combined with the reborn Bulgarian national consciousness to form an independence movement. The movement was complicated by internal disagreement on aims and methods the increasing weakness of the Ottoman foothold in Europe and the conflicting attitudes of the major European powers toward Bulgaria. Russia gained distinction as Bulgaria's protector by driving out the Turks in 1877 but France and Britain curbed Russian power in the Balkans by forcing establishment of a limited autonomous Bulgarian state under Turkish rule. The instrument of that limitation the Treaty of Berlin revived longstanding Bulgarian territorial frustrations by placing the critical regions of Macedonia and Thrace beyond Bulgarian control. Both of those disputed regions had substantial Bulgarian populations. During the next sixty years Bulgaria would fight unsuccessfully in four wars in a variety of alliances to redress the grievance. None of the four wars brought substantial new territory to Bulgaria.

Beginning in 1878 Bulgaria was nominally ruled by members of West European royal houses under a parliamentary form of government. Prime Minister Stefan Stambolov unified the country during its first decade but extremist political parties exerted substantial influence from the beginning. Between 1878 and the declaration of full independence in 1908 Bulgaria passed through a period of peaceful modernization with expansion in industry science education and the arts. Modernization and industrialization sowed the seeds of class conflict however nurturing strong socialist and agrarian opposition parties in the decades that followed independence.

The period between 1912 and 1944 was full of irredentist wars and internal political turmoil. By 1900 Serbia and Greece were the major territorial rivals but a World War I alliance with Germany gained Bulgaria little advantage over them. After the war the agrarian reform government of Aleksandur Stamboliiski had failed to unite the country by 1923. The series of unstable factions and forms of government that followed Stamboliiski was broken only by Bulgaria's participation as an Axis ally in World War II. Again no territory was gained but World War II brought Soviet occupation the end of the monarchy and forty-one years of unbroken communist rule beginning in 1946. During that entire period Bulgaria was the closest East European imitator of Soviet internal and foreign policy. The years 1944 through 1989 were a time of collectivization heavy industrialization drastic restriction of human rights and close adherence to Soviet Cold-War policy.