Representing Australia at the 3×3 Challenger in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Townsville have been unable to advance to the World Tour but still received valuable ranking points in an important tournament for Australia’s future in 3×3 basketball.
Townsville headed to Mongolia after succeeding at the CLB 3X3 Aussie Summer Series Final last month with a team consisting of Luke Schenscher, Josh Garlepp, Tim Keating and Cameron Springall.
They were pitted against a Brazilian team (Sao Paulo) and Mongolian side (Khovd) on the first day of competition but were unable to get past those opponents, losing by eight and four points respectively.
Townsville then faced Liman, a Serbian side, on the second day of the pool stage and fell 15-22 to end any hope of a Quarter-Final berth while Liman went on to win the tournament.
While they will not advance to the World Tour, these games have provided the team with not only personal experience of a growing format but also important ranking points that will come in handy down the road.
An Australian women’s team will compete at the 3×3 World Championships in a fortnight’s time but a men’s team did not have the ranking points to qualify.
With 3×3 becoming more and more popular and the possibility of it becoming an Olympic sport in 2020 growing, every tournament that Australians compete in will contribute to success in the future.
In the spirit of reconciliation Basketball Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.