Red Bull concluded the inaugural “Red Bull Half Court” on April 23, at the Sri Lanka Basketball Federation courts, with the participation of 4 Men’s and 4 Women’s teams that qualified through regional qualifiers in the Southern, Central, Northern, and Western Provinces.
Red Bull Half Court is a 3X3 basketball tournament that is on the lookout for the world’s best “streetballers” from among 15,000 players across 20 countries.
Teams advance by winning games but there’s also a unique twist: the “Own the Court” bonus is awarded to the team in each group that has scored the most points cumulatively across the games. This means even if a team doesn’t win most games, they still might make it through to the finals.
Red Bull constantly strives to give wiiings to youth via sports as a brand. This tournament is especially significant because this is the first of its kind in Sri Lanka. Red Bull intends to hold this tournament on an annual basis to create a platform for local basketball talent.
Over 400 players representing 20 teams from each province, took part in the event out of which 8 teams, a men’s and women’s team from each Province, made it through to the Finals.
Team TSM (team members: Thisaramala Anjalee Ekanayake, Benika Madhubashanei, Lubna Morseth & Nihari Perera) and Team Air Brothers (team members: Nimesh Fernando, Rukshan Athapattu, Chanuka Shehan & Pawan Gamage) from Colombo emerged Champions in the Women’s and Men’s categories respectively.
The winners will represent Sri Lanka at the Half Court World Championships slated to be held in October, in Egypt.
