Olympic Day Celebrated with 3×3 Basketball Tournament

The Namibian Basketball Federation (NBF), in collaboration with Namibia National Sports Committee (NNOC), Fresh FM and the International Basketball Foundation (IBF), held their annual 3×3 basketball tournament in Windhoek on Saturday, 23 June.

In commemoration of Olympic Day, the tournament had basketball fanatics gathered to partake in a three-age division basketball battle. The three divisions were under-15, under-18 and under-23.

The Young Lions Cup, as it is better known, is also the platform used to select under-18 male and female teams that will represent the country in a 3×3 tournament to be later hosted in Botswana 2019. Teams from different regions took part and the Khomas region presented great young talent. This tournament was also played at Rundu and Eenhana.

The two teams that represented the country in Botswana last year scooped fifth and second place in the male and female divisions respectively. The preliminary games that were held at the Deutsche Höhere Privateschule (DHPS) to pick this year’s representatives showed a lot of young players to pick from this year.

The under-15 division that was mixed had DHPS Kings taking first place with Sausages and Falcons falling in second and third position. The male under-18 division placed Janitors in first followed by Xomste Skeem and finally Knights. The older category of the under-23 males had a tough final where the Tax Collectors Revengers beat Tromentos and took first position leaving the third position for Nothing but Net.

The female under-18 division offered up a nail-biting final where the Young Beasts proved they wanted it more and took first position. The Young Lions Cup under-18 finals will be played on 27 October and on the day all the respective regions will battle it out to determine an under-18 national team representative from the male and female division.

The teams will go on to play in Botswana in a bid to bring back gold. Three by three basketball has now been recognised as an Olympic sports code and Namibian basketball wishes to expand the sport to open doors for the youth.

Ramah Mumba, the Namibian Basketball Federation’s secretary general, quoted: “The Olympic Day 3×3 tournament was a success; we had around 30 teams participate.