Earlier this evening the Sri Lanka Basketball Federation held a press conference with the presence of the President of the SLBF Commander Chandana Liyanage and representatives from the FIBA 3X3 at the Berjaya Hotel to announce a significant step for Basketball in Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan Basketball federation has announced their latest venture to host the 2017 Under 23 FIBA 3X3 Basketball Nations league. The tournament will take place between the 18th and 20th of August at the Sir. John Kotalwela Defense Academy basketball court.
3X3 Basketball has been a popular style of ‘street basketball’ but over the years it’s grown to have tournaments across the globe. In 2009 the game had its first international debut at the Asian Youth Games while it made its worldwide debut in 2010 at the Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore. Today 3X3 basketball has been recognized as an Olympic event that will be held in the 2020 Olympics.
This will be the second time the Sri Lankan federation is hosting an event of this nature. Teams from Czech Republic, Netherlands, Hungary, Slovenia, Jordan, Uganda and Sri Lanka will face off to determine the champion this year. As the 4th and 5th stage of the tournament is about to commence Slovenia is leading the men’s category while the women’s category is still an open game with tight competition for anyone to take the championship.
The FIBA 3X3 Basketball tournament will be played on a special court and each game will be 10 minutes long with a 12 second shot clock and no half times. This concept of Basketball has been growing in popularity across the globe and Sri Lanka has made significant progress with the adaptation of the game as one of our very own Arnold Thevakumar has been ranked no. 11 in the world of 3X3 basketball. While the overall team stands at no.51 in the world and no. 44 in the zone. While the under 23 women’s team has been ranked 37th in the world ranks.
The tournament will commence tomorrow at 2 PM although alongside the international tournament, the Sri Lanka Basketball Federation has organized invitation matches between the prominent basketball schools to come and play and a workshop for under 17 to promote the adaptation of this style of basketball.
Stay tuned to ThePapare.com for updates as we will be broadcasting the entire tournament live, across the 2 days or head on over to the Sir. Joh Kotalawela Defense University to catch the live action.
Quotes
“Annie: FIBA is excited to bring this tournament to Sri Lanka. It’s such a big event and we want each individual federation to develop and hosting an event of this nature is the perfect way. We’re all really excited to see how all these great teams will play in the next few days. Under 23 will be the future of Olympic athletes and we’re happy to be able to showcase their stories.”
“Nicholas Widmer: The 2 stages hosted here in Sri Lanka are the most important as this will decide the winner of all these teams that have travelled across Europe. The main goal of this tournament is to bring out the talent the youth has and be able to develop it for the next Olympic Games.”
“Team Sri Lanka (Nichula, Shivanga and Imesha): It’s a great opportunity we have to represent the country and it’s a great opportunity for Sri Lanka to be having 2 teams at this tournament, we’re definitely all excited to play even though the competition is high. 3X3 is a growing sport and it’s a great opportunity for Sri Lanka to host this especially considering the fact that we have a very young team that can play a couple more years.”
