For the first time in Micronesian Games history, the 10th Games hosted a 3×3 basketball competition with six men’s and five women’s teams participating.
The two-day competition was dominated by Team Guam, with both their teams winning gold medals. The Saturday-Sunday tournament brought hundreds out to watch the games at the refurbished ECC gymnasium.
RMI women went 2-2 in pool play, which was good enough to make the bronze medal game. They defeated Kiribati 17-7 and Pohnpei 10-1, while losing to Guam 21-4 and to Nauru 11-9.
In the bronze medal game against Pohnpei, the RMI women won 19-10. It was the first medal for RMI of the Games.
RMI men did not fare so well. They held a slim lead against Palau 16-15 near the end of the game, only to lose 21-16. Guam defeated the RMI men 21-11.
A schedule change made Saturday night after close of the first day of play for Sunday morning games was not effectively communicated to two men’s teams — both the RMI and Kiribati — each of which forfeited their respective games in the revised schedule due to following an earlier schedule. The forfeit loss eliminated the RMI men from medal round competition.
Results for men: Guam gold, Palau silver, Nauru bronze.
Results for women: Guam gold, Nauru silver, RMI bronze.