The first quarter-finalists of the FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup 2025 were confirmed on Friday (March 28) with several upsets on the first day of Main Draw action at the OCBC Square. The China and New Zealand men’s teams as well as the women’s team from Japan withstood tough competition to go unbeaten on the first day of their campaigns. Hosts Singapore were also in action with the women putting up valiant displays against Japan and Vietnam but coming up short.

CHINA (men)
The men from China came in with a new-look side, but did not take long to find their rhythm. They took down Chinese Taipei in their opening match 21-10. Zhang Dianliang put up a team-high 7 points, complemented by an evenly-spread offensive output from his teammates. Their biggest test came in their second game of the day against India, who have been the team of the tournament so far on the men’s side. Coming in with a perfect record in the qualifying draw and picking up a win against Chinese Taipei themselves, the game would decide who will earn top spot in Pool B. In what was a back-and-forth battle, with both teams upping the stakes with spectacular moves, India’s Arvind Muthu led his side offensively, scoring two free throws to level the score at 19-apiece. With the game on the line, Guo Hanyu drilled a cold-blooded two-pointer to hand China a statement win and the top spot in the pool heading into the knockout stage. China and India will be joined by New Zealand, who won both their games to top Pool D, and Qatar in the quarter-finals on Sunday. The remaining quarter-finalists will be determined tomorrow.

JAPAN (women)
Speaking of statements, Japan did just the same on the women’s side. They started with a dominant 22-6 victory over home side Singapore. Sharpshooter Fuyuko Takahashi went off for a blistering 10 points, going 4/4 from deep, including the game-winning basket. Fatoumanana Nishi contributed 9 points as well, as the duo took control of proceedings early and never let up. They took on Vietnam next who came into the tie with a ton of buzz. Led by the Truong Twins who have a storied collegiate career together in the States, the Southeast Asians were unbeaten in qualifying and had also defeated Singapore earlier in the day. While it was a tight contest with little separating the sides at first, the game eventually became a comfortable win for Japan. Defensively, they figured out their opposition early and stifled them from gaining momentum. Nishi and Yuki Noguchi combined for 15 points as they secured a 17-10 result, heading into the knockout phase riding high. China also finished at the top in their pool. Both teams will be joined by the Republic of Korea and Vietnam in the knockout stage.

Te Tuhi Lewis (New Zealand)
New Zealand with their new-look roster came into Singapore and showed up strong. Bucket-getting Te Tuhi Lewis led the charge for his team to go unbeaten on the first day of their campaign. He put up 10 points in their 21-15 win over Vietnam, scoring 3 from deep while also managing to draw fouls and put Vietnam in foul trouble. He went off for another 10-point outburst in a close 17-15 win over Qatar.

Zhou Mengyun (China)
China finished top in Pool C and the offensive display of Zhou Mengyun proved to be the X-factor. In their opening 18-17 loss to New Zealand, she put up 7 points, which later proved crucial in determining their final placing in the pool. They faced a strong Republic of Korea side next where they picked up a 19- 12 win, with Zhou scoring 10 points. Her 17 points on the day led China to the top spot heading into the knockout rounds.

Says Zhou: “I think we were all right today. We just have to strengthen our self-belief and improve our confidence. Our goal is of course to win a medal, and we’re confident of this.”

Says Tang Choy Ting, Singapore Women’s Team: “It was a bad day for us. We had a lot of miscommunication. We had actually set some game plans but those didn’t work out, and we should have adapted faster. We got into the pace of the game (against Vietnam towards the end), and we were also thinking that it’s the last game of the day and last minutes of the game, so we should just go all out. We really went all out at the last few minutes. Through these matches, we actually see our weaknesses, so we’ll definitely work on it and try to improve. We will go back to training and look at some other competitions coming up, including the SEA Games at the end of the year. It’s very welcoming (to play on home ground) and they were so passionate. I could hear everyone cheering for us and shouting, it’s really nice to play at home.”

Says Lee Dayeon, Republic of Korea Women’s Team: “I think we’ve only shown half of what we’re capable of. Compared to the opponents I think I had an advantage in terms of speed and tireless physical strength. Apart from me, the rest of the players in the team are competing in a 3×3 tournament for the first time — it’s a new experience for them. Even then, I’m seeing their development and growth with every match. For the next match, we’ll go into the match with the goal to win no matter what. We’ll put in our best for each match.”

Says Arvind Muthu Krishnan, India Men’s Team: “I’m feeling great, our team performed really well in our two matches today. Now, we just have to concentrate on our quarter-finals and I hope we will reach the next stage. We committed too many early fouls, that’s the main reason we lost today, and we let them shoot a lot of two-pointers. We must improve on our switches and two-point shooting. Our final goal is to win a medal for India.”

Says Guo Hanyu, China Men’s Team: “We fought very hard during this match (against India), the opponents were stronger than we had anticipated and they were very highly-skilled. Once I made the shot (the final two-pointer), I felt a sense of relief that we got the win. The audience in Singapore has been cheering for us and we feel even more fired up. I’d give our team 80 marks today – at the start, we were very tight and didn’t show our capabilities. We then made the necessary adjustments and changes to improve throughout the day. The level of difficulty in the quarter-finals will definitely be high; the opponents are skilled and will be giving their all, so we’ll take it one match at a time.”

Says Kaylynne Truong, Vietnam Women’s Team: “Right now, I feel good. We put up a hard fight and Japan’s a really good team. We get to play against top teams here so it’s a good opportunity for us to get better. We had really good ball movement today compared to the first two days. Individually, I did okay but I just have to be better. A big part of doing well here is getting prepared physically, so shout out to our doctors and people behind the scenes for helping us, but also mentally. I can’t even remember how many games we’ve played, but mentally we have to be okay before we prepare physically. I just make sure I get a lot of rest because I know if my body feels good, I feel good. And I just try to relax and not think about basketball as much so that I don’t stress myself out. I just need music, good family time, good team time and good food.”

Says Yuki Noguchi, Japan Women’s Team: “We knew they were going to switch, so we used the slip a little bit more. We’ll need to improve our defensive rebound in the quarter-finals. We know our opponents are going to have a lot of height and we’re small, so we have to fight for the defensive rebound in the quarter-final. Our goal is to try and win a medal. Tomorrow we’ll have a little practice and we’re going to fix what we have to fix.”

Says Ahmad Saeid Mohamad, Qatar Men’s Team: “My teammates and I have been playing together for a long time, maybe not in tournaments but we’ve known one another for years. We told one another before the game that no matter what, we’re going to stay calm and do what we need to do. We’re in the quarter-finals anyway. We wanted to finish first in the group but unfortunately, we didn’t have a good start. We made a good run in the end and hope to do better in the quarter-finals. What we can take away is that the start of the game is definitely the most important part of the game, as well as how you finish it. We finished it pretty well. We did our best at the end but at the start we were pretty slow; we couldn’t score for a while. They started at 5-0 and we’re going to have to overcome this. We’re a particularly young team and we know the other teams are very seasoned. We’ll just come in, play tough and try to make our bodies keep up with theirs. We’re probably up against China and if so, they’re a very good team so we’re going to do our best.”

Says Aidan Tonge, New Zealand Men’s Team: “The boys are feeling good, it’s not a bad day when you come away with two wins. At the end of the day, that’s what we’re trying to put on – get on the scoreboard and get two wins. But we still have lots of areas to improve on. We’ve got a rest day tomorrow, go over our video and come back better. We just always have to improve on talking to each other, our defending, pushing to switch that sort of stuff. I know people get tired, people get lazy, but it’s these different areas that really matter. You’ve got to be attached to help your brothers out. Stuff that we did all right – we shot the ball well, we executed our plays well to get our shooters good looks. They hit some, they missed some, but then that’s half our identity. The ones that we missed, we have to catch some rebounds and put it back in. Before the tournament, we had a couple of selection camps and a couple of training camps ahead of time. We got to Singapore a few days ahead of the tournament and got some practice games under our belt, which always helps. This is a relatively new group, there are a couple of debutants and this is their first day playing for New Zealand, so I’m super happy for them to get two wins. The goal is to win the tournament. We play India next and they’re a talented team with some great players. We’ll do some scouting tomorrow and reflect, but our main priority is getting our mind and body right for the day.”

FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup 2025 runs from 26th to 30th March 2025. Tickets are priced from $5 (excluding booking fee) and are available now. Secure your spot here.