Canadian men’s 3×3 basketball team to play in qualifier for Tokyo Games

Alex-Linklater

Michael Linklater, who is playing in the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Final in Beijing later this week, stands for a photograph at a outdoor basketball court near his home in Saskatoon,Tuesday,October 24,2017. Linklater has been the top-ranked 3-on-3 player in Canada for several years, and 3-on-3 will be on the program for the Tokyo Olympics. He's also First Nations, and has his own program that takes basketball into Indigenous communities. (Liam Richards / CP)

UTSUNOMIYA, Japan — Canada has been awarded a spot in men’s competition at the 2020 3×3 basketball Olympic qualifying tournament.

The final 10 berths in the men’s and women’s events were announced Friday.

The qualifying tournament allows maximum of 10 teams per continent and a minimum of 30 different countries represented over the two events. Only the top six teams that qualified based on ranking could have a team in both events.

The last 10 berths in each gender were allocated by world ranking if a country didn’t already have a team qualified in either gender. Canada’s men, ranked 18th, advanced as a result of having a higher rank than the women (26th).

The 20-team men’s tournament will take place in March and will qualify three countries for the 2020 Tokyo Games. Canada is in a group with the Netherlands, Latvia, Croatia and host India.

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