MANILA – The inaugural FIBA 3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) will now take place in Austria.
In a press conference on Tuesday coinciding with Olympic Day, Austrian Vice Chancellor and Sports Minister Werner Kogler announced that the city of Graz will host the OQT now reset to May 26-30, 2021.
“The focus of our Government in sports is the promotion of trending and green sporting event,” Kogler said. “The FIBA 3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament combines modernity and sustainability in a unique way.”
"We are very happy to be able to bring this great tournament to Austria", added Basketball Austria President Gerald Martens.
With original host nation India having a rapid increase in the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases, FIBA decided to move the Olympic qualifiers to Austria.
"FIBA is delighted that the road to the Olympics will stop in Graz's iconic Hauptplatz and that the Austrian authorities have vowed to make it the greenest, most sustainable event to date, which is entirely in line with our concept of reduced ecological footprint of 3x3,” said FIBA executive director for Europe Kamil Novak.
Gilas 3x3 remains ready
Meanwhile, the Philippine team that will play in OQT expressed readiness even if their training was stalled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We will be ready come 2021," said Bounty Agroventures president Ronald Mascarinas, the chief backer of the Gilas Pilipinas Men’s team for the FIBA 3x3 OQT.
Mascarinas said Gilas Pilipinas is just waiting for the go-signal from the government so it can resume practice.
Philippine Olympic Committee president Bambol Tolentino earlier said he is in talks with the Philippine Sports Commission and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases for the Gilas 3x3 and the rest of the national athletes who are vying to make it to the Tokyo Olympics next year to continue their training. (PNA)
