Who can stop Novi Sad Al Wahda after Rio seeding?
RIO DE JANEIRO (2015 FIBA 3x3 World Tour) - Last year’s FIBA 3x3 World Tour winners Novi Sad Al Wahda (UAE) will face La Plata (ARG) and Anchieta (BRA) in Pool A as they attempt to win their second Masters of the season (after Manila) at the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Rio de Janeiro Masters on 26-27 September.
Just a year after prevailing at the World Tour Final in Tokyo, Japan, Novi Sad Al Wahda continue to dominate the 3x3 circuit, qualifying to a record fourth Masters this season. After winning in Manila, they are looking to take home the USD 10,000 cheque after misses in Prague (7th) and Beijing (3rd).
Team La Plata are back after finishing 8th last year at the Rio Masters and Anchieta showed some flashes of brilliance at the CBB Brazilian Quest finishing third but are unlikely to be a real test for the team of Dusan Domovic Bulut, the number one 3x3 player in the world.
Like it is the case in all FIBA 3x3 competitions, the seeding is conducted automatically according to the 3x3 individual World ranking (of the three best players from each team). According to the FIBA 3x3 regulations, teams are seeding as follows:
| POOL A | POOL B | POOL C | POOL D |
| #1 Novi Sad Al Wahda (UAE) | #2 Rio Preto (BRA) | #3 Santos (BRA) | #4 Rio (BRA) |
| #8 La Plata (ARG) | #7 Juana Diaz (PUR) | #6 Esmeraldas (ECU) | #5 Montevideo (URU) |
| #9 Anchieta (BRA) | #10 Chicago (USA) | #11 Yaoundé (CAM) | #12 Pergamino (ARG) |
Only two weeks after finishing 6th at the Mexico DF Masters, Rio Preto make their second appearance at the World Tour this year. The winners of this year’s Brazilian Quest are actually in for one of the most competitive pools of the event with the winners of the Puerto Rican Quest (Juana Diaz) and the team that shined at the Red Bull Reign in front of NBA star Anthony Davis (Team Chicago).
Team Santos will bring a lot of World Tour experience to Pool C with three players who featured at the 2014 World Tour Final, including the lefty shooter Ismar Neto. The winners of the Ecuadorian Quest from Esmeraldas and the second team this season coming from Africa, Team Yaoundé (CAM), will complete the pool.
In Pool D, Team Montevideo (URU) and Rio (BRA) are back at the World Tour after a disappointing outing in Rio last year (7th and 11th respectively).
Both teams will feature a player which will join the exclusive group of 11 players who have played in all four editions of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour (Fernando Gutierrez and Carlos Silva Junior respectively). The young Pergamino (ARG) team (19-years-old on average) will represent the new generation of 3x3 players in Rio.
For those not attending the games on the Parque dos Patins (entrance is free!), pool games will start at 10.10 local time (GMT-3) on Saturday live on FIBA 3x3's official YouTube channel. The top-two placed teams from each pool advance to a standard knock-out round which starts at the quarter-finals stage, from 10.45 local time on Sunday.
FIBA