Hungary will organize the third and last 3×3 Olympic basketball qualifying tournament, the event will take place between May 23 and 26 in Debrecen.
From this tournament, three men’s and three women’s national teams will advance to Paris.
The information provided by the Hungarian federation on Wednesday reminded us that 8 national teams per gender can participate in the Paris Games. Three places each have already been sold, and in the continuation, 3 qualifying tournaments will be held for both men and women, at which the fate of the remaining places will be decided.
The Hungarian women’s national team will also participate in the first qualifying tournament on April 17-18, the venue of which is not yet known. In addition to the team of the host country, Hungary, the Netherlands, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Mongolia, Chile and, knowing the continent of the host country, one more country from the world ranking will participate. The first place in the tournament goes to the Olympics.
The second tournament will be held in Ucunomija, Japan, between May 3rd and 5th without the Hungarians, and the third will take place in the city of Hajdúság based on FIBA’s announcement.
“Organizing an Olympic qualifier is always a great honor. This is another serious sports diplomatic success for Hungary. We consider the awarding of the organization a recognition of our activities in the 3×3 discipline, and FIBA honored the high-level experience of the city of Debrecen with its decision,” said Péter Bodnár, Secretary General of the Hungarian Federation.
MKOSZ pointed out that Debrecen’s name is almost synonymous with 3×3 basketball, as the European Championship was held in the city in 2019, it was the site of the U18 European Championship three times and the U18 World Championship four times (the last three U18 WC was hosted by Debrecen), and the World Series series has also been a permanent stop in the cívisváros for many years.
Thus, after traditional basketball – this will take place in February in Sopron – Hungary can also organize an Olympic qualifier in 3×3, if the women do not manage to qualify in the first qualifier, then they can try to qualify for the five-hoop games at home – just like before Tokyo.
With the arrangement, it was also achieved that men also get a chance at the Olympics. Most recently, the men’s team missed Tokyo due to losing to Belgium, which was later involved in a huge scandal (the Belgian players at that time have since been banned).
(MTI)
