FIBA - Inaugural Invitational 3x3 Youth World Championship set for September

GENEVA (3x3) - FIBA has announced it is to hold its first-ever Invitational 3x3 Youth World Championship in September 2011.

The decision was made after seeing the impressive progress that has been made over the past year in developing the format of the game, starting at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and culminating in the current Test Season that is now taking place.

With its national basketball federation celebrating its 90th anniversary, Italy will host the Invitational 3x3 Youth World Championship in the city of Rimini.

The competition will take place between 9 and 11 September for girls and boys simultaneously.

A total of 40 teams - 16 girls and 24 boys - will take part in the U18 event.

All interested national federations have until 15 July to register a team to compete.

FIBA intends on subsequently holding this event annually. In years to come, the selection process to determine the participating teams will be done through dedicated qualifiers as well as the 3x3 Individual Ranking.

For this year's Invitational 3x3 Youth World Championship, FIBA - in cooperation with the Youth Commission - will determine the participants with the following criteria in mind:
1. Zone and country representation
2. Gender diversity
3. FIBA rankings in youth categories
4. Strength of 3x3 community and tournament's landscape in given country
5. Involvement of the national federation in the 3x3 Test Season

FIBA will confirm and communicate the participation of the registered teams by 30 July.

FIBA highly recommends that the teams participating in the Invitational 3x3 Youth World Championship to be selected through existing and/or dedicated qualifying 3x3 tournaments taking place in the respective countries.

For more information about 3x3 Basketball, please visit fiba.com/3x3

FIBA