FIBA 3×3 and the Worldwide Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) kicked off a brand new period for 3×3 basketball after internet hosting the first-ever built-in working and wheelchair basketball Europe Cup.
Organized by FIBA 3×3, the IWBF 3×3 Europe Cup was included into their occasion, in collaboration with the Austrian Sports activities Federation for Disabled and Basketball Austria. The event featured 14 groups from throughout Europe and befell alongside the distinguished FIBA 3×3 Europe Cup, the place 24 of the highest European groups competed for the championship title from August 22-25.
The occasion drew in followers who loved the fast-paced, high-scoring format of three×3 basketball, mixed with the distinctive ball-handling abilities and unimaginable show of higher physique energy of wheelchair basketball gamers.
Earlier than a captivated house crowd, Austria clinched the inaugural males’s 3×3 Europe Cup championship in wheelchair basketball, defeating Poland in an exhilarating 15-14 match. Within the girls’s competitors, Spain secured the first-ever girls’s 3×3 Europe Cup wheelchair basketball championship.
The FIBA 3×3 Europe Cup 2024 noticed the identical gold medalists emerge victorious. The Austrian males’s staff, enjoying in entrance of their house crowd, earned their first Europe Cup title with a 18-17 victory over Serbia. The Spanish girls’s staff secured their second Europe Cup gold with a 19-11 victory over their long-standing rivals, France.
FIBA Managing Director Alex Sanchez mentioned:
“At FIBA we’re at all times striving to innovate our sport and supply the absolute best expertise for our gamers and our followers. The inclusion of wheelchair basketball within the 3×3 Europe Cup was an enormous success and can make the game of three×3 basketball extra accessible and open to all.”
Walter Pfaller, IWBF Vice-President and IWBF Europe President mentioned:
“We’re very proud to have wheelchair basketball built-in into the three×3 Europe Cup. The inclusive 3×3 Europe Cup in Vienna showcased not solely the talent and athleticism of our gamers but additionally the unity and shared ardour between the working basketball and wheelchair basketball communities. It was a primary step with nice significance. FIBA and IWBF have proven that inclusion is lived and that we’re a basketball household. This occasion has set a brand new normal for inclusion and competitors, and we’re excited to construct on this momentum, increasing alternatives for 3×3 and persevering with to develop basketball for all.”
A joint ceremony was held to have fun the success of each the IWBF 3×3 Europe Cup and the FIBA 3×3 Europe Cup. The ceremony introduced collectively gamers from each occasions, highlighting the sturdy cooperation and unity within the world basketball neighborhood.
With the occasion held simply forward of the wheelchair basketball competitors on the Paralympic Recreation Paris 2024, the IWBF 3×3 Europe Cup served as a strong reminder of the unimaginable talent and athleticism of Europe’s greatest wheelchair basketball gamers.
