'The mecca of 3x3 basketball' Hongcheon County to establish a corporate team.
In 2025 Hongcheon County hosted numerous 3x3 basketball tournaments and cemented its reputation as 'the mecca of 3x3 basketball.' The Korea 3x3 Organization's (KXO) final tournament of the year, NH NongHyup Bank 2025-2026 KXO 3x3 Hongcheon STOP, also concluded successfully on the 21st. Across four categories — U15, U18, men's open and KXO STOP — fierce competition delivered both excitement and results.
The tournament, hosted by KXO (chairman Park Geon-yeon), was held with the support of Hongcheon County (county head Shin Young-jae) and the Hongcheon County Sports Council (chairman Shin Eun-seop). Beginning with KXO 3x3 Hongcheon STOP 1 in February, KXO held six domestic tournaments and three international tournaments this year, and completed its 2025 schedule with this Hongcheon STOP.
In the U15 final, SKBT (Lee Ki-beom, Kang Byung-jun, Eom Seok-hyun, Ahn Hyun-jun) rallied to beat PRISM (Caiden Galloway, Jake Burton, Moon Chang-jun, Choi Wook) 16-13 and took the trophy.
In the U18 final, RKDR (Gam Dong-bin, Lee Jong-min, Kim Chan-i, Chae Tae-hyun) defeated Hagik High School (Choi Ji-ho, Oh Woo-seok, Joo Ha-jin, Hwang Hyun) 16-13. The two teams fought a consistently close match. RKDR, with stronger concentration at the end, became the champion.
The men's open final pitted RNT (Kim Gi-woong, Kim Sang-hoon, Son Seung-gi, Kim Gwang-ho) against Basketball Research Institute (Koo Hyun-seo, Choi Woo-young, Lee Geon-ha, Park Ji-min). RNT won 21-15 to claim the championship cup. Kim Gi-woong was named MVP.
In the much-anticipated KXO STOP final, Japan's Sagamihara (Yahatahara Rion, Igo Kenya, Fujihara Tom, Uros Kanic) defeated Korea's Hongcheon (Park Ji-hwan, Jeong Seong-hoon, Lee Young-seok, Im Dong-il) 21-11 to win the title. Kanic was selected as MVP.
There is welcome news as well. KXO chairman Park Geon-yeon said, "I expressed the intention to establish a corporate team in Hongcheon. Starting with Hongcheon, we plan to consecutively establish 2-3 teams next year. Ultimately, the goal is to professionalize."
Recently, Inje County disbanded the 'Haneul-naerin Inje' team, and the news of Hongcheon County's plan to establish a corporate 3x3 team could provide renewed momentum to the domestic 3x3 basketball scene, which had been stagnating.
County head Shin Young-jae's strong interest in 3x3 basketball served as the catalyst. On the 21st Shin visited the KXO STOP event in person and watched Hongcheon's final scenes through to the end.
Shin Young-jae, county head of Hongcheon, laughed and said, "3x3 basketball is dynamic and definitely fun. Because the outcome is decided in a short time, the concentration of players and spectators is extremely high. There was no time to look away."
Hongcheon County reaped notable benefits in 2025 by successfully attracting several basketball tournaments. Numerous tournament officials visited Hongcheon, injecting significant vitality into the local economy. By hosting international tournaments, they also achieved promotional effects that raised Hongcheon's brand value among foreign players.
The county head said, "Hongcheon County is a designated area at risk of population extinction. We are looking for various alternatives to boost the local economy. One of them is the sports industry. By attracting many tournaments and games, we aim to stimulate the economy as players and officials visit our region."
He added, "Hosting tournaments has become an opportunity to raise the image and value of the Hongcheon County brand. It has a twofold effect. It is an industry with investment value. Going forward, Hongcheon County and the sports council will continue as close partners to further develop the sports industry."
The establishment of a Hongcheon corporate team is part of that continuum. The county head explained the motivation for the founding, saying, "If Hongcheon County is to be established as a holy site of 3x3 basketball, I think a corporate team should go along with it. Once the Hongcheon team develops more teamwork, it will produce better performance."
Compared with other local governments in Gangwon Province, Hongcheon County is close to the metropolitan area and has excellent sports facilities, giving it many advantages for fostering the sports industry. Shin Young-jae, county head, said, "If the wide-area railway from Yongmun to Hongcheon is confirmed, it will be a golden opportunity to attract events to Hongcheon County. We will continue efforts so that sustained development of the sports industry can invigorate the local economy."
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