The team participating in the NH Nonghyup Bank FIBA 3-3 Hongcheon Mugunghwa Challenger 2024, the second 3-3 international competition to be held in Korea this year, has been confirmed.
KXO (Korea 3-3 Basketball Federation) announced on the 4th that it will hold the NH Nonghyup Bank FIBA 3-3 Hongcheon Mugunghwa Challenger 2024 at the Hongcheon-gun National Sports Center in Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon State for two days from the 12th to the 13th.
The competition is hosted and organized by Hongcheon-gun, Hongcheon-gun Sports Council, Hongcheon-gun Basketball Association, and KXO, and is sponsored by NH Nonghyup Bank, Sports Toto Korea, Korea Weldingbong, POSCO International, KHNP, Hite Jinro, Red Bull, and AAB.
This is the second 3 to 3 international competition to be held in Korea this year after NH Nonghyup Bank FIBA 3 to 3 Hongcheon Challenger 2024, which was held in Hongcheon County in May. KXO is the first Korean 3×3 organization to hold 3 to 3 international competitions more than twice a year.
A week before the competition is held, all 16 teams participating in the Hongcheon Mugunghwa Challenger have been confirmed.
A large number of the world’s top three teams, including Harlem, New York (USA), Candaba (Latvia), Vienna (Austria), Lausanne (Switzerland), Echmond (France), and Jean-Kt Pauli (Germany), will participate in this competition, and Hanul Construction, which includes Bang Sung-yoon, will participate as the only Korean three to three teams in Korea.
Only 12 teams out of the 16 teams that participate in the FIBA 3-on-3 Challenger will be eligible to play in the main draw. With the FIBA 3-on-3 ranking determined based on the previous year’s performance, the top 10 teams will go straight to the main draw, and the bottom six teams will be divided into two groups of three teams for the qualifying draw. In the qualifying draw, only the first place in each group will be eligible to play in the main draw.
Vienna (Austria) is by far the most prominent team in the Hongcheon Mugunghwa Challenger. Vienna won the FIBA 3×3 Wuxi World Tour 2024, which ended on the 2nd. The world tour is a competition that is one level higher than the Challenger, and it is a top-level 3 to 3 international competition that can earn the most prize money ($40,000) and the most points. Vienna’s winning member of the Wuxi World Tour will participate in the Hongcheon Mugunghwa Challenger and try to win the title for two consecutive weeks.
Following Vienna, Kandaba (Latvia), which includes Edgars Klummins, the men’s three to three gold medalists at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Harlem (USA), which includes Dominique Jones, a former member of the U.S. men’s three to three national teams, and Jeanette Pauli (Germany), which is composed of German men’s three to three national teams, should pay attention to the upcoming event. In addition, Echmond (France), who is considered the next generation of French men’s three to three national teams after Paris (France), will also visit Korea for the first time.
While Europe is expected to be strong in this competition, Sagamihara (Japan) and Shinagawa (Japan), who won the 2024 KXO League Final and finished second, have also been confirmed to participate. In particular, Sagamihara is expected to play well by forming a team of three European players and one Japanese player to promote the tournament. 먹튀검증
