FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis highlighted the growing success and inclusivity of 3x3 basketball at the Paris Olympics, emphasizing its potential for expansion and global reach, particularly in bringing African teams into future competitions.
PARIS, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis praised the electrifying atmosphere of the 3x3 basketball event at the Paris Olympic Games and discussed the possibility of expanding from eight teams to 12 in Los Angeles.
"Paris is not only a magnificent city, it's a city that is passionate about basketball. If we had had a venue of 10,000, we would have sold it out every single morning and night. We're very happy with how the international travellers as well as locals embrace 3x3 basketball," said Zagklis on Monday at a press conference, adding, "We're very excited that in four years another big cosmopolitan and basketball-loving city like Los Angeles is waiting for us."
Following its COVID-affected Olympic debut in Tokyo, 3x3 basketball has finally shown the charm of its urban appeal in Paris, with 4,700 seats being sold out before the Games.
Zagklis also addressed the possibility of allowing replacements for injured players. In the Paris pool round, the United States' top scorer, Jimmer Fredette, suffered an injury, leaving the team to complete the entire Olympics with only the remaining three players. The same issue occurred with the Mongolian team during the Olympic qualifiers, where they had a player disqualified and ultimately completed the series with one less player.
"We believe in maintaining a balance between helping the competitiveness and fairness on the court with maintaining the light character of organizing an event," Zagklis noted. "We should also not forget that the quota of athletes is a very delicate point for the IOC. So in principle, it's not in our plans to add a substitute player for the possibility of having a replacement."
Eyeing the development of Olympic 3x3 basketball in the future, Zagklis expects a team expansion and African teams' presence.
"There are two aspects. One is the continental aspect, and that is directly linked to the number of teams. If we have 12 teams, we will look at universality the same way we're looking at basketball," he said.
"We had three continents with men and four continents on the women's side. We are missing Africa on both sides. We will push hard for the 2026 Youth Olympic Games to have a lot of African representation and to prepare the Olympians for 2028 and 2032 from Africa," Zagklis suggested.
Zagklis expressed faith that anyone could possibly achieve success in 3x3 basketball, following the example of the tournament's men's title winners, the Netherlands, who were not a big force in basketball.
"3x3 has this democratic aspect to it because of the smaller number of players we need to assemble as a team. It allows a smaller population, or not as deep a pool of talent, to make it to the top. This is what we saw in the past with Mongolia, with Romania. We had newcomers like Chile playing the Olympic qualifiers and from South America. 3x3 shows us that success is possible for everyone," said Zagklis. ■
