Kivanc Dinler Claims World Title

Turkey’s Kivanc Dinler Claims World Title in Taiwan

All eyes were on the first and only global one-on-one street basketball tournament ever held in Asia on Saturday as Kivanc Dinler from Turkey earned the title after demonstrating dazzling spin moves, strategy, and endurance. Fierce street ballers gave it all in the Red Bull King of the Rock World Finals, playing single elimination mode, in the toughest and hottest head-to-head battles on Samasana Island.

TAITUNG CITY (Taiwan) – The world’s most prestigious one-on-one basketball tournament brought 32 King of the Rock finalists from 23 countries to face off on the prison exercise yards of Samasana Island, off the southeast coast of Taiwan, to showcase their individual skills. With two courts in simultaneous game play, the night was packed with action and emotions as Kivanc Dinler from Turkey was crowned 2014 Champion, and Stanislava Fedotova of Russia claimed the first ever Queen of the Rock title.

“It’s a great feeling and a great place. I was lucky tonight because the guys I battled with came to me a little bit more tired than me. For me, the key to win was the experience and the endurance,” said the 37-year-old new champion.

The 32-man competition was very demanding – both physically and mentally. In the finals, Dinler crushed victory by defeating Orlando Ortega of Panama 11-4 amidst the deafening roars of the crowd that saw strong battles and upsets throughout the night as Georgia’s Vakhtang Kadaria defeated 2013 champion Tarron “The Beast” Williams of the United States of America in second round.

Stanislava Fedotova secured possession of the ball and scored without allowing her opponent to do the same to overtake Ting Cheuk of Hong Kong with a final score of 13-4 and capture the inaugural Queen of the Rock title after putting it all on the line. “I feel really happy. It’s a big win for me. It was a good and tough competition.”

Guest host NBA rising star Harrison Barnes from the Golden State Warriors witnessed all the action while players battled each other on the two courts. “It’s hard to put a number on a scale level of the competitors tonight, but I definitely saw the effort and the enthusiasm of the players. It took a lot of strength and heart to win.”

In its fifth straight year, Red Bull King of the Rock saw 101 city qualifiers, 26 national finals and 5,696 players taking part in 5,429 head-to-heads boiling down to 32 King of the Rock and 10 Queen of the Rock finalists.

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