Austria’s men’s 3×3 national basketball team recorded defeat and victory at the start of the final qualifying tournament for an Olympic berth on Friday. After a 14:21 against Puerto Rico, Matthias Linortner, Nico Kaltenbrunner, Fabio Söhnel and Toni Blazan won against Israel 19:16.
The Israelis won against Puerto Rico, meaning the trio has one win each. The ÖBV team will play against outsiders Hungary in Group B on Saturday.
16 teams are competing for one of three Paris tickets still to be awarded. If they advance, one of the two promoted teams from Group D (Mongolia, Belgium, Japan, Poland) awaits the Austrians in the quarter-finals. The decision about Olympic qualification will be made on Sunday.
Most recently in Hong Kong, the Austrians narrowly missed out on a ticket to France due to a final defeat against Olympic champions Latvia.
