FIBA has announced the schedules for the FIBA 3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournaments that will be held in Graz, Austria, where the Australian Women’s 3x3 Team will be looking to qualify for the inaugural Olympic Games 3x3 competition at Tokyo 2020. 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. Basketball Australia recently announced the seven athletes still vying for selection in the final team for this Olympic Qualifying Tournament, with the final four players plus a reserve to be named by the FIBA deadline of May 18. Australian Women’s 3x3 squad for FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament: Rebecca Cole (Melbourne, VIC), Keely Froling (Townsville, QLD), Maddie Garrick (Melbourne, VIC), Alice Kunek (Melbourne, VIC/Gdynia, Poland), Anneli Maley (Melbourne, VIC), Lauren Scherf (Melbourne, VIC), Marena Whittle (Melbourne, VIC). Playing in Pool A at the women’s tournament will be France, USA, Germany, Uruguay and Indonesia; Pool C includes Belarus, Estonia, Hungary, Netherlands and Sri Lanka; and Pool D features Austria, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Taiwan. 3x3 basketball is played with a 12-second shot clock on a half court. Baskets inside the arc and free throws are worth one point, and baskets made from outside the arc are worth two points. The winner is the first team to score 21 points, or the leading team at the end of the 10-minute game clock. Image: Basketball Australia/Lauri Jean Walker
