The 3x3 Basketball Olympic dream for the Australian women’s team is still alive, as FIBA announced they earned a spot at the FIBA 3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in India from 18-22 March 2020.
FIBA revealed on Friday the four teams per gender that had qualified directly to Tokyo 2020 and 20 teams per gender to compete at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, based on the Federation ranking list at 1 November.
The Qualifying Tournament gives the Australians a shot to contest the Games' first ever 3x3 basketball event, with the top 3 finishing teams per gender booking their place at the 3x3 Olympic basketball debut at Tokyo 2020.
The Australian team of Bec Cole, Keely Froling, Alice Kunek and Marena Whittle won the Asian 3x3 Championships in May and placed 4th at the World Cup in June, and will look to take their international success into the vital tournament in March.
The qualification system for Tokyo 2020 is unique, with 3x3 aiming to bring basketball to new countries and those that are not considered traditional basketball powerhouses. A maximum of 10 teams per continent and a minimum of 30 different countries must take part in the Olympic Qualifying tournament.
Additionally, only the top six teams were able to qualify based on ranking, the last berths of each gender were allocated following the Federation Ranking list which includes participation rates of each country in the ranking formula.
