The Singapore men’s team will face Japan in the quarter-finals of the FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup 2025, matching their best result in the tournament. They reached the quarter-finals for the first time in the 2023 edition. An action-packed Day 4 on Saturday (29 March) saw the hosts beat Hong Kong, China 21-16, before going down valiantly to top seeds Mongolia 22-10 in front of a raucous home crowd at the OCBC Square. But Hong Kong, China’s 22-8 loss to Mongolia meant that Singapore finished as Pool A runner-up and will meet Pool C toppers Japan who stunned defending champions Australia. In the women’s tournament, defending champions Australia were unstoppable against the Philippines and Indonesia and are unbeaten going into their quarter-final against Thailand.

JAPAN (men)
A new-look Japan made headlines in a major way in the pool stage, going 2-0 in spectacular fashion. They started against Iran who came off a strong run in the Qualifying Draw. Though a close game for the most part, the talk of the action was Japan’s Ryo Ozawa who broke the single-game 3×3 scoring record. He put up an incredible 20 points in their 21-17 victory in the opener. Their next challenge was not as simple though as they took on reigning champions Australia. Despite it being a more physical test, once again there was no stopping the mercurial Ozawa, who set his team up every chance he got and shot lights out from deep. He finished with 10 points, leading the improbable win for Japan over the Aussies. Momentum could not be more in their favor as they head into quarter-final action tomorrow. Mongolia also went unbeaten on the day and they head to the knockout rounds alongside Australia and hosts Singapore.

AUSTRALIA (women)
Talk about dominance. The gold standard of the 3×3 Asia Cup showed out in the pool stage with two sublime victories. Sporting an offensively loaded side in Miela Goodchild, Anneli Maley, Alex Wilson and Marena Whittle, the Aussies handled business against Indonesia with a 21-3 win. Maley led them in scoring with 7 points and 8 rebounds. They faced the Philippines next and went on to power through yet again with Wilson’s 9 points and Whittle’s 8 paving the way for a 21-8 victory. The Gangurrus are primed to add another Asia Cup title to their accolades and the form they showed in the pool stage is a promising sign towards them retaining the title. They will be joined in the quarter-finals by Mongolia, Thailand and the Philippines.

Ryo Ozawa (Japan)
In one of the greatest heat checks in memory, the Japanese star made 3×3 history in their opener against Iran with a 20-point showing, a single-record scoring record. He added another 10 points and a ton of clutch dimes against reigning champions Australia to lead Japan to a perfect pool finish and momentum like no other. Ozawa is the player to look out for and if Japan hope to make a push for the trophy, they’ll need him to stay scorching.

Ariuntsetseg Bat-Erdene (Mongolia)
The skilled bucket-getter for Mongolia played a key role in their qualification to the knockout rounds. Though suffering a loss to Thailand in their closing game, their clinical win against Chinese Taipei in their opener was enough to take them through. The game saw Bat-Erdene go off on a tear, putting up a whopping 13 points along with 8 rebounds. The monster performance earned Mongolia the win that would take them to the next round of the competition.

Says Haribon Espinosa, Singapore Men’s Team: “It’s a tough loss, but we still have high hopes and we’re still in high spirits. Mongolia is a tough team, a really experienced team. We had a lot of lapses offensively but defensively, we’re always going to be there. We’re undersized, but our effort will always be there. That’s the thing, so whichever team we face in the quarter-finals, I think we’ll have a fighting chance because of our effort. We just have to tidy a few things offensively. My teammates always give me the confidence to shoot. So they always tell me that whenever I’m open, whenever I feel like taking the shot, I should take it. I got that shot (the winning 2- pointer against Hong Kong) because of my teammates; because they always give me the confidence to shoot. After this, we’re going to have a team meeting, get some food, go straight to sleep, and then get back tomorrow.”

Says John Charles Dillon Stith, Australia Men’s Team: “We’re disappointed because the plan was to win the first two games. Japan played an awesome game, so it’s credit to them. But for us, it’s the same message. We still have to win three games tomorrow to be the tournament champions and win a gold. It just depends on the teams we play, but we’re still ready. There’s no question there’s a lot of areas for improvement for us. We know we can be one of the best teams in the world if we put it all together. So any time we lose, it’s an underperformance and we have to re-evaluate.”

Says Ryo Ozawa, Japan Men’s Team: “We knew that the Australian team is pretty good so we were focused on what we needed to do, and we did it for this game. We didn’t do anything special (in training), but during our training camp before the FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup and also during this event we had a lot of communication so that was probably the key for the game. For the first game (against Iran), we just shot the ball in. For the second game, we knew that Australia would be trying to stop me, so we kind of worked on what they were going to do. We kind of knew what they were going to do, so we adjusted to that.”

Says Supavadee Kunchuan, Thailand Women’s Team: “We’re super proud of ourselves. Our team had a lot of pressure and we were just trying to prove that we could do it. This time everyone worked hard on the court and it was very good, we didn’t give up at all. We gave everything we had. We’ve been training a lot for this so we are super proud of ourselves and grateful that we did our best for the coaches, staff and people in our country. After we finished the game (against Chinese Taipei) we went back and sat together to watch the film to see what we did well and what we didn’t. We just put everything behind us and said “Let’s go, we got this one.” We may have messed up but everybody makes mistakes. We put everything behind and supported each other and we came back strong. Last year we finished eighth and we couldn’t go to the next round. This year hopefully we will reach the final – that’s what we’re planning.”

Says Anneli Maley, Australia Women’s Team: “It was a really fun game. Tomorrow, we’re just going to come out and play Australian basketball. We have great team chemistry, and it’s all about sharing the ball, getting the right shot at the right time and playing hard. We love coming to Singapore, we love the community and the fans, so it’s always a special time to come out here and play a good brand of basketball.”

Says Anand Ariunbold, Mongolia Men’s Team: “It was our first 3×3 game in a while. We haven’t been playing as a 5-on-5 professional team since last autumn. We’ve been concentrating on 3×3 all this time, aiming for the World Cup in June. We had a long break before the Asian Cup, so it was tough at first. The ball was also slipping. But we adjusted to the situation and did our best.”

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.