Master-wook 3×3 Basketball Team (hereafter referred to as Master-wook) will be on stage for the first international competition after its establishment.
Master Wook (Choi Joo-young, Kim Jeong-nyeon, Lee Dong-yoon, Yoon Seong-soo) will participate in the FIBA 3×3 Ulaanbaatar Super Quest 2023 held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from the 22nd to the 24th.
Master Wook, who took the ambitious first step in the KBA 3×3 Korea Tour league division to be held this year with CEO Kim Ki-wook as the center, is not only 3×3 competitions held in Korea, but also challenges overseas stages such as FIBA 3×3 Challenger and Super Quest, foreshadowing more vigorous activities.
The FIBA 3×3 Super Quest (Level 8), which is divided into a total of 10 levels, is the uppermost level of the FIBA 3×3 competition level, next to the World Tour (Level 10) and Challenger (Level 9).스포츠토토
FIBA 3×3 Ulaanbaatar Super Quest 2023 is a competition hosted by the Mongolian 3×3 Basketball Association, and is a city-based competition rather than a national competition. Participating teams will not represent countries such as Korea, Mongolia, China, and Japan, but will represent each city such as Seongnam, Ulaanbaatar, Putian, and Saitama. The winner and runner-up team of this tournament will be given the right to participate in the Manila World Tour, which will be held in Manila, Philippines from May 20th to 21st.
Although the official category is a city-based competition, it is safe to say that it is actually a ‘small 3×3 Asia Cup’. A total of 12 teams from Korea, China, Japan, the Philippines, and Malaysia, including 6 Mongolian teams including ‘Ulaanbaatar’, which reigns as the strongest in Asia, will participate in this tournament. They are organized into a total of 4 groups A, B, C, and D, and it is a system in which the first and second place in each group advance to the quarterfinals through group preliminaries. Master Wook, who is participating in this tournament under the team name ‘Seongnam Office Check-in’, belongs to Group C along with China’s Putian and Japan’s Saitama, starting with the match against Puitan at 3:50 pm on Saturday, April 22nd. , on the same day at 7:30 pm Saitama and the preliminary schedule.
Antwerp and Amsterdam, which are emerging as emerging powerhouses in European 3×3, and Putian, which includes Tibot Verburt (No. 6 in FIBA rankings) and Dimeo Wander Horst (No. 8 in FIBA rankings), and Tomoya Ochiai, the best Japanese 3×3 star (No. 137 in FIBA rankings) There is no doubt that Saitama, who has been deployed, must be a tough opponent for Master Wook.
However, Master Wook’s squad is determined to have nothing to lose as they managed to earn the right to participate in the tournament. I think it will be a good opportunity to gauge their skills while directly facing world-class 3×3 powerhouses.
Lee Dong-yoon, captain of Master-wook, said, “I participated in the Sacheon Challenger last year under the name of Master-wook, but I was very disappointed and thirsty because I could not compete with overseas teams. I wanted to see it. Representative Kim Ki-wook and the players came together and participated in the Ulaanbaatar Super Quest held in Mongolia,” he explained the background of participation.
While there has been no news of domestic 3×3 teams challenging the world stage for the past few years since Skyfall Inje, Master-Wook Master’s challenge to participate in this tournament at the expense of his own money has great implications for Korean 3×3, which remains on the periphery of Asian 3×3. Korea must somehow increase the number of international competitions to secure points and raise its national ranking. Only then can you have a chance to qualify for the Paris Olympics. .)
Regarding this, Lee Dong-yoon said, “Of course, the purpose of the experience is great, but I want to contribute to raising Korea’s 3×3 national points when looking at it in a representative way. As there are players in the top 25 of their country’s rankings, such as Kim Jeong-nyeon, we are proud of the national team through this tournament. If I raise the points a little, I think I can set a small precedent for other teams. In addition, not only the Mongolian team, but also many Asian countries such as China, Japan, the Philippines, and Malaysia participate, and I wanted to show that Korea’s 3×3 is also competitive.” and talked about his thoughts.
Mongolia has a big difference in level from Korea in 5:5, but it stands in a unique position in 3×3. Starting with winning the 3×3 Asian Cup in 2018, finishing runner-up in the 2019 3×3 Asian Cup, winning the Jeju Challenger in 2019, advancing to the Tokyo Olympics finals in 2022, and winning the FIBA 3×3 Asian Cup 2023 that just ended, Mongolia’s status in the world’s 3×3 landscape is growing day by day. It is getting bigger and bigger.
Lee Dong-yoon said, “Last week at the Korea Tour Seoul Tournament, referee Edmund Ho showed a picture of the Mongolian 3×3-only stadium where the tournament will be held and said that the audience was very enthusiastic. “I think it’s an honor to be there, and I want to see what level we are by meeting world-class players directly. If the opportunity arises, I want to participate in the challenger as well. I see this tournament as a preliminary match before participating in the challenger.” said.
“It is true that the opposing teams are not formidable. Our first opponent, the Chinese team, was mixed with Belgian players. We watched a lot of videos of the Chinese team players and prepared through our own practice games,” he said. “One of the two teams You have to win to go to the quarterfinals. Realistically, I want to aim for second place and face Ulaanbaatar, who is likely to top Group A.”
Lastly, Lee Dong-yoon said, “I want to experience many things through this competition, and I want to continue to challenge myself on the international stage in the future.” We will do our best to show a good image with the spirit of the Korean team.”
Masteruk is a group of 3×3 players who are said to be strong on the domestic stage, but they have not yet achieved results on the international stage. In the eyes of foreign officials, Master Wook is a team of challengers who still do not know who they are.
However, at the moment when domestic teams’ 3×3 overseas stage challenge has stopped, Master Wook’s challenge to the world stage is beautiful in itself.
Through this competition, it is hoped that Master Wook Master, who wants to confirm their potential on the international stage once again, will be able to engrave a good image of Korea 3×3 in Mongolia, which can be called the holy land of Asian 3×3.