By Benjamin Mallet
PARIS (Reuters) – Reigning champions Latvia made light work of their third game of the men’s 3×3 basketball at the Paris Olympics on Thursday with a swift 22-8 pool stage victory over China.
The Latvians made it three wins out of three, showing great agility, both inside the arc and from long range, and sharing the workload between Tokyo gold medallists Karlis Lasmanis and Nauris Miezis and young guns Francis Lacis and Zigmars Raimo.
Gold medal favourites Serbia earlier beat the Netherlands 21-19 when Strahinja Stojacic, who had been held in check up to that point, ended the contest with an extraordinary two-pointer from long range.
In the women’s competition, Germany inflicted the first defeat on Canada by a 19-15 margin thanks to a great collective effort, while Australia beat China 21-15.
In the pool stage, the teams play a round robin. The top two from the pool go straight to the semi-finals and the next four teams play off for the other two spots in the last four.
Both United States teams will be looking for their first wins of the tournament later on Thursday at the Place de la Concorde.
(Reporting by Benjamin Mallet; Editing by Toby Davis)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.