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Australian 3×3 team announced for FIBA 3×3 OQT
Basketball Australia has today named the squad selected to represent Australia at the FIBA 3×3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament set to take place in Graz, Austria from May 26 – 30.
Format pioneers Rebecca Cole, Maddie Garrick and Alice Kunek along with Keely Froling and Lauren Scherf will depart for Austria tomorrow night, with the final four athletes to contest the tournament to be selected on May 25.
Australia head to Europe looking to create history and qualify for the inaugural Olympic Games 3×3 competition at Tokyo 2020, something Head Coach David Biwer says is “definitely achievable”.
“Landing on the final squad for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament was extremely difficult due to the quality of talent. We’ve had a number of highly competitive training camps over recent months, where all 12 members of the extended squad brought their A-Game and put forward a strong case for selection,” explained Biwer.
“We’ve chosen a final squad whom selectors believe have the experience, skillset and versatility required for such an intense tournament format and will ultimately help Australia to qualify for Tokyo 2020.
“We head to Austria feeling prepared for the challenge and ready to seize the exciting opportunity that lies ahead.”
The final squad for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament is currently participating in a three-day preparation camp at Hoop City in Cheltenham, Melbourne (VIC) – a preferred High Performance Training Facility for Australia’s 3×3 national team program.
The Australian women, who are in preliminary round Pool B, will take the court first and on May 26 will face Japan at 7.00pm (all times listed are AEST) and Ukraine at 9.30pm. On May 28, they will close out pool play against Thailand at 7:25pm and versus Iran at 11.10pm.
The top two finishing teams from each preliminary round pool will advance to the quarter-finals on May 30, and the quarter-final winners will advance to the semi-finals to be contested on May 31 (AEST). The three Olympic berths will go to the two semi-final winning teams and the third-place finisher.
