Sakiai is a champion of Hong Kong Masters!

Hong Kong Masters was held as the eleventh big tournament of the World Tour 2022 last weekend. Supporters enjoyed high-quality basketball during those two days as the end of the 11th edition of the World Tour approaches.

The best team in Hong Kong was the Lithuanian team Sakai who already was qualified for the Final in Abu Dhabi. Let’s quickly preview what we saw the previous weekend.

Kaohsiung, Wu Kai Sha, and Kowloon competed in the qualification draw A on November 26, 2022. Kaohsiung was the team with the highest ranking and earned the ticket for the main tournament.

Yogyakarta, Hong Kong, and HKG Island had contest in the qualification draw B. Hong Kong was the best-ranked team and qualified for the main draw.

Ub and Ulaanbaatar got tickets for the elimination stage in group A.

Beijing and Sakiai were first-placed and second-placed teams respectively in pool B.

Vienna and Antwerp qualified for the Top 8 stage in group C.

Riga and Amsterdam progressed to the quarterfinals from pool D.

The quarterfinals were set to be played on November 27, 2022.

In the first quarterfinal, Antwerp won against Ub with 16-13. Sakiai beat Riga with 22-13. Amsterdam defeated Beijing with 21-17. Vienna pulled out a 21-11 victory over Ulaanbaatar.

Sakiai beat Antwerp with 17-15. Vienna defeated Amsterdam with 21-15 in the second semifinal.

The final game was played between Sakiai and Vienna. The fixture was very much back-forth and it included some good moves from players of both teams. Players from the Austrian team Vienna missed important shots in the dying moments of the match. Sakiai pulled out a 21-17 victory over Vienna in the end.

Here is a full final game:

Aurelijus Pukelis, the Sakiai player, scored a winning free throw for victory in the final clash and was named tournament MVP. Marijus Uzupis, his teammate, was the best scorer in the final fixture with 12 points and he added to that 6 rebounds. Stefan Stojacic, Vienna player, had good performance but that was not enough for win.

The teams that will participate in Abu Dhabi Final Masters on December 10-11, 2022 are: Ub, Liman, Antwerp, Riga, Vienna, Amsterdam, Sakiai, Ulaanbaatar, Princeton, Omaha 3Ball, Utrecht, and Lausanne.