European-Russia rule the hoops in fast-paced 3x3 basketball

By Tom Hayward BAKU, June 26 (Reuters) - Russia won gold in the men's and women's 3x3 basketball at the inaugural European Games on Friday to bring an end to the fast, thunderous and innovative sport's time in the spotlight. Under floodlights at the atmospheric European Games Park, adjacent to the Caspian seashore, Russia's women beat Ukraine 22-17 before the men overcame Spain 18-14 to cap the sport's highly successful debut in the Azeri capital Baku. Having inner-city backyard origins, 3x3 basketball is played in a court measuring 15 metres (49 feet) wide by 11 metres (36 feet) long with teams scoring in the same hoop. With a 12-second shot clock and games lasting 10 minutes, or until the first team reaches 21 points, the sport is fast-paced and relentless. "Our advantage is speed, we are faster," Russia's Aleksandr Pavlov told reporters. "They wanted to push us, they couldn't, and we used our speed." "Honestly, I don't feel anything right now. I think maybe tomorrow it will sink in." Russia have dominated the multi-sport Euroepean Games winning 138 medals -- 69 gold, 33 silver and 36 bronze -- and women's 3x3 gold medallist Tatiana Petrushina said they wanted to emulate the success of their compatriots from other sports. "We had to win," she told reporters. "We knew that Russia won a lot of gold medals. We wanted to be in this list and give another gold medal to our country." Highly-fancied Serbia, the reigning world tour champions, claimed Bronze in the men's event while Spain did so in the women's. (Reporting by Tom Hayward; Editing by Ken Ferris)