Basketball goes big

Namibia will become the first African nation to host the 3×3 FIBA International Basketball Tournament that will be held at Augustineum on 3 and 4 December.
Namibia was in the running to host the tournament after submitting much needed background information about the country – basketball, infrastructure and history. FIBA was persuaded by the work around basketball development in Namibia at community level.
“This approach at the grassroots level fits very well with the mission of FIBA whose principal goal is to see the development of 3×3 tournaments throughout the country,” the Namibian Basketball Federation said in a statement.
Should Namibia host this tournament successfully, the country stands a chance of hosting the World African qualifiers and the World tour in 2012.
President of the Namibian Basketball Federation, Kerii Tjitendero could not contain his excitement that FIBA, the international governing body of basketball had chosen “small Namibia to host such a progressive tournament.”
FIBA secretary general, Patrick Baumann said the 3×3 version of the sport is the epitome of basketball and that professionalising this stream would open a lot of doors for countries to make it to the international stage of basketball.
“It will give access to elite competitions to countries that would not necessarily have the chance to compete at the top international level, as is the case for Namibia and many of our 213 member federations.”
 “Knowing the pool of young talent performing on all African playgrounds – we are confident that this outdoor discipline is a great opportunity for Namibia, and African basketball in general.”