The Irish Women’s 3×3 Basketball team has become the first Irish team in the sport to qualify for an Olympic tournament.
They sealed their place at the first European Olympics in Baku next summer with a dramatic overtime win against Ukraine in the European Championships in Bucharest at the weekend.
It is hoped now that this qualification will drive the roll out of a programme to attract more players to the hybrid game which blends sport with music, fashion, street culture and a sharp focus on youth.
Over €2 million has been allocated by the sports international governing bodies to promote what is already recognised by the IOC as the world’s most popular urban team sport. The belief is that it may may make an Olympic debut at the 2020 games and Ireland could be among the countries taking part.
“It’s an easy game to organise and to play,” said Basketball Ireland’s new Media and Communications Manager Ross O’Donoghue.
“The victory in Bucharest was right down to the wire but fully deserved and the excitement of an Irish team travelling to the European Olympics next year is flowing through the sport.”
The Olympic Council of Ireland will fund the team expenses in getting to Baku but a commercial partnership is being sought to assist the team in raising their game through playing against more overseas opposition and to fund the building up of greater numbers of players to feed into the national set up.
It is likely that the fusion appeal of the sport could appeal to an edgy youth focused brand and the ease of setting up games and tournaments could provide live content around music events, in schools and colleges.
