With Qatar boasting one of the top teams in the world – they were world champions in 2014 and quarter-finalists at the ongoing 2017 World Championships in Nantes, France – the Qatar Basketball Federation are keen on devising a comprehensive strategy to make a good first impression in the Japanese capital.
The Olympic decision, made earlier this month in Switzerland, comes after years of campaigning with Qatar playing a key role by hosting several 3x3 high profile competitions and giving the format a fillip.
“Qatar has been at the forefront of promoting the 3x3 format in basketball and our efforts have been rewarded,” a Qatar Basketball Federation official told the Gulf Times yesterday.
“It’s a historic occasion for basketball. The 3x3 format has captured the imagination of the basketball loving people worldwide and its inclusion in the Olympics is definitely a boost for the sport and especially for Qatar’s medal chances,” he added.
The IOC said earlier this month that 64 athletes (32 men and 32 women) will be part of the Olympic basketball programme at the Tokyo Olympics.
FIBA Secretary General and IOC member Patrick Baumann said. “It is the recognition of 10 years of hard work to codify the rules of 3x3 and to innovate with a unique 3x3 digital platform and player ranking system that bring together athletes with private and institutional organisers in a worldwide network of FIBA organised or sanctioned 3x3 events.”
Qatar’s huge involvement in basketball’s abridged format, in which only three players represent one team on a half-sized court with only one hoop, did not escape the attention of FIBA, the sport’s governing body.
“Qatar has been one of the biggest promoters of 3x3 basketball. The facilities they provided and the standard of the tournaments held in Doha over the years have been mind-blowing,” FIBA Vice-President Hamane Niang told journalists in Doha last November.
Niang, who was in Qatar to witness the FIBA 3x3 All Stars event, said it was Qatar which first saw the tremendous potential the 3x3 format had in terms of worldwide popularity and appeal.
In that sense “you are true visionaries”, Niang had added.
FIBA 3x3 director Alex Niang had said that it was Qatar which helped 3x3 basketball create more “media noise” which raised the profile of the game.
“Qatar is a good example for any other federation when it comes to the promotion of a game,” Alex Niang had said.
In 2007, FIBA decided to propose to the IOC to add 3x3 to the 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Singapore, which ended up being the first official 3x3 event, with resounding success there and at the 2014 edition in Nanjing, China. 3x3 basketball thus becomes the first-ever new YOG discipline to be included in the Olympic program.
FIBA President Horacio Muratore said: “The intensity and skill level of the 3x3 game is such that there are no traditional 3x3 powerhouses and new countries have emerged since the first YOG experience in 2010. This was our main objective back in 2007. The decision provides FIBA with a renewed, strong incentive to continue in this direction and grow the game of basketball by developing new young skilled basketball talents in both genders across the globe from small islands to large countries in every continent.” The competition format, qualification system and the location of the 3x3 venue in Tokyo will be announced at a later stage.
