Canadian men’s 3×3 basketball team to play in qualifier for Tokyo Games

UTSUNOMIYA, Japan – Canada has been awarded a spot in men’s competition at the 2020 3×3 basketball Olympic qualifying tournament.

The final 10 berths in the men’s and women’s events were announced Friday.

The qualifying tournament allows maximum of 10 teams per continent and a minimum of 30 different countries represented over the two events. Only the top six teams that qualified based on ranking could have a team in both events.

The last 10 berths in each gender were allocated by world ranking if a country didn’t already have a team qualified in either gender. Canada’s men, ranked 18th, advanced as a result of having a higher rank than the women (26th).

The 20-team men’s tournament will take place in March and will qualify three countries for the 2020 Tokyo Games. Canada is in a group with the Netherlands, Latvia, Croatia and host India.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 1, 2019.