Austria’s 3×3 teams are looking forward to the World Cup “at home”.

Austria’s 3×3 basketball teams are looking forward to the world championship “at home”, which starts on Tuesday and lasts until Sunday.

The game is played in a specially built arena on the Rathausplatz in Vienna. There is space for up to 3,000 spectators. 20 nations each are at the start for women and men. The winners of the medals also buy tickets for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

The ÖBV representatives recently proved that they are in good shape. The women’s selection with Anja Fuchs-Robetin, Sigrid “Sigi” Koizar, Camilla Neumann and Sarah Sagerer showed up just over a week ago with fourth place at the tournament of the 3×3 Women’s Series in Astara (Azerbaijan).

“Maybe we can surprise,” said Neumann to the APA the day before the start of the World Cup.

Youngster surprisingly in the squad

The male professionals of “Team Vienna” with Nico Kaltenbrunner, Matthias Linortner (number twelve in the world rankings) and Martin Trmal as well as Quincy Diggs, who was not eligible to play for Austria at the World Cup, achieved third place in the 3×3 World Tour in Utsunomiya (Japan ).

Instead of the American, Filip Krämer, who had been injured for a long time, moved into the red-white-red squad. Surprisingly, it was also announced on Monday that 19-year-old Rashaan Mbemba would be playing instead of Trmal and would be playing his first major 3×3 tournament at the World Championships.

With the future college player from St. Pölten there is “more presence under the basket,” said Linortner to the APA. Of course, the team had never played in this constellation. “We trust our coach,” added Kaltenbrunner.

According to Linortner, the Austrians want to “think from game to game” at the World Cup. This has also worked well in other tournaments.

Exciting tasks for ÖBV teams

The ÖBV men go into the tournament as number nine among the 20 teams. The local women are in 17th place. The goals are high, but the tasks are not easy.

In Group A, Sarah Sagerer and her teammates are awaited by the reigning world and European champions, France, who are also number one in the tournament. Vice European champions Netherlands and Spain (continental champion 2021) are also “big chunks”. Added to this is Brazil as another preliminary round opponent.

In Pool B, Linortner and colleagues will meet lower-seeded teams in Slovenia and Australia, before they play Olympic champions and European runners-up Latvia and the USA. The latter also have a player in their squad in Jimmer Fredette, who has NBA experience from 241 appearances from 2011 to 2016 and 2018/19 with 6.0 points in 13.3 minutes per game.

Free entry at City Hall Square

The ÖBV women contest the group phase on Tuesday and Thursday, the men on Wednesday and Friday. The winners of each of the four pools advance directly to the quarter-finals. Second and third place finishers play the other places in a play-in. On Saturday and Sunday there are only knockout games on the program of the World Cup in Vienna.

Admission to the arena on the Rathausplatz is free. The principle “first come, first served” applies. Information on seats in the reserved area (free choice of seats) at fiba3x3.com/2023/worldcup/tickets.