2 matches lost by one point each - Georgian 3x3 team lacked a little before the playoffs

Georgian 3×3 national team competed in the European Cup qualification tournament and, unfortunately, could not win a ticket to the final stage of this tournament. Our team, the honor of which is defended by Ilia Londaridze, Vakhtang Gaprindashvili, Zuka Machaladze and Rezo Chachanidze, fought to the end and could not leave the group due to 2 matches conceded in the last seconds.

The key was the very first match against host Romania. The fate of the match could not be revealed in the main time. Georgia advanced in overtime, but the Romanian player made a long shot and Romania won thanks to 2 extra points. – 17:16.

In the second match of the group stage, our opponent was Ireland, Georgia beat them 19:15. Georgians needed to defeat Lithuania in the last round to get into the two teams leaving the group. For its part, Lithuania had resolved the issue of leaving the group. The Baltics convincingly defeated both rivals – Romania and Ireland, but came to the court still motivated to win against Georgia. The Georgians were winning throughout the game and only in the last seconds did the Lithuanians manage to advance. The Baltics shot the winning ball from the penalty spot, 2 seconds before the end of the game – 16:15.

Georgian national team finally took the 3rd place in the group and was eliminated from the fight for the ticket to the European Cup. According to the regulations, after the group stage, the last 8 teams in the playoffs were paired and only 4 matches were played to reveal the winner of 4 tickets to the 3×3 Basketball European Cup. These were Lithuania, Ukraine, the Netherlands and Estonia. The second qualifying tournament was held in Israel, from where – Belgium, Austria, Poland and Israel reached the final stage.