The 3rd Annual Friendship Games wrapped up at Tel Aviv University on Thursday, June 5 with Vytautas Magnus University from Lithuania capturing the men’s title by beating Israel 70-57 and AZS Polzan University from Poland capturing the women’s title by defeating Shandong University of Science and Technology from China 54-38.

This year’s games featured a record 27 teams from 17 countries Among the countries competing were Palestine, Jordan, Israel, Russia, Germany, Croatia, Ireland, China, Italy, Canada, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Turkey, Greece, Angola and Serbia.

The final scores were just a small part of the story as the games are designed to be more than just about basketball. Student athletes had the opportunity to spend time together in peace while touring Jerusalem , The Dead Sea, Nazareth , Sea of Galilee and Tel Aviv-Jaffa.

Where:
The 3rd Annual Friendship Games were held at Tel-Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel-Aviv 69978
Tel: 97236408440 or 97236408953
Fax: 97236409674
Web: www.tau.ac.il
          www.sports-center.co.il

About the Games
The Friendship Games offers college students from close to 20 countries the opportunity to compete in a round-robin style basketball tournament at Tel Aviv University with each team playing five games each. The games are designed to be more than just about basketball as student athletes are afforded the opportunity to spend time together while touring Jerusalem, The Dead Sea, Nazareth, Sea of Galilee, Tiberias and Tel Aviv-Jaffa.

The program was conceived in 2006 by Atlanta Hawks co-owner Ed Peskowitz after meeting with Arie Rosenzweig, athletic director of Tel-Aviv University and Coach Ilan Kowalsky, athletic director at the Interdisciplinary Center of Herzliya. It is Peskowitz’ dream that the game of basketball will begin to unify countries on a grassroots level by bringing student athletes together from all over the world.

The 2007 Games:
Last year, the Second Annual Friendship Games wrapped up on Thursday, June 7, 2007 with a special closing ceremony featuring Israeli President Shimon Peres. In addition to playing basketball and touring the country, the student athletes also had the opportunity to spend time with NBA Legend Spencer Haywood, Atlanta Hawks Assistant Coach Herb Brown, former Maccabi Tel Aviv legend LaVon Mercer and St. Edward’s University Coach Ryan Marks.

For more information contact Michael Rieman at
(404) 604-2605 or at mrieman@hopebeckham.com.
Please visit our Web site at www.thefriendshipgames.org