Lācis and DeQing lose Challenger final but secure Masters spot; Lasmanis finishes fourth in Hanchuan
Francis Lācis and Chinese side DeQing reached the Challenger final in Mongolia on Sunday, where they lost to Serbia's Liman, but still earned a place at a Masters event. Kārlis Lasmanis and Shanghai ended fourth at the Hanchuan Challenger.
Latvian 3x3 basketball player Francis Lācis and the Chinese team DeQing reached the final of a Challenger tournament in Mongolia on Sunday, falling 14:21 to Serbia's Liman. The defeat did not prevent them from qualifying for a Masters tournament, as the top three teams earned berths.
In the quarter-finals, fifth-seeded DeQing defeated Mongolia's Ulaanbaatar, seeded second and featuring Latvian player Nauris Miezis, 21:19. Lācis recorded six points and seven rebounds in that win, while Miezis scored seven points for Ulaanbaatar.
DeQing then edged Canada's Toronto, the third seed, 18:17 in the semi-finals. Lācis did not score in that game but grabbed seven rebounds. In the final, he contributed two points in the loss to Liman, the second seed.
Elsewhere, at the Hanchuan Challenger, Kārlis Lasmanis and Shanghai beat Belgium's Antwerp, seeded second, 20:19 in the quarter-finals, before losing 10:22 to Switzerland's Lausanne, seeded ninth, in the semi-finals. Shanghai ended fourth. Lasmanis scored four points with six rebounds in the first game and added four points in the bid to reach the final.
