DeQing Qualifies for Amsterdam World Tour After Winning Xi'an Challenger 2026

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Chinese team DeQing successfully won the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) 3x3 Xi’an Challenger 2026, in China, also securing a ticket to the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Amsterdam 2026, on June 19-21.

The FIBA 3x3 website stated on Monday that DeQing managed to defeat Phoenix from the United States with a score of 22-17 in the final round.

Even though they lost, Phoenix and Skyliners are entitled to tickets to Amsterdam. The three teams will start the top-tier 3x3 tournament through the qualifying rounds.

In the Xi’an edition, DeQing performed dominantly throughout the tournament and took advantage of the support from the home crowd to win the title in one of the strongest Challenger events this season.

In the final round, DeQing immediately put pressure on and quickly led 8-3. Phoenix briefly recovered through Kyle Guy and Malik Hluchoweckyj, narrowing the gap to 14-16.

However, DeQing responded with a 3-0 run to pull away again. Guo Hanyu and Francis Lacis then secured a 22-17 victory with 2 minutes remaining in the game.

Guo became the top scorer for DeQing in the final match with 10 points, while Zhang Dianliang continued to perform consistently in controlling the tempo of the game on both sides of the court.

Zhang was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) after scoring a total of 38 points, the most in Xi’an, and also recording the highest total player value of 40.5.

In the semi-finals, DeQing had trailed 9-12 against Skyliners Germany, which was strengthened by Stefan Kojic. However, three final points from Lacis brought the Chinese team to a narrow 18-16 victory.

Phoenix finished in second place after performing impressively throughout the tournament through the duo of Kyle Guy and Eric Demers.