After the success of the women’s handball team, the Hungarian national teams can compete in another sport in Debrecen, as the 3×3 world elite will compete for the Olympic title in the arena on Kossuth Square between 16 and 19 May.
For the second time since 2021, Debrecen will host an Olympic qualification tournament in 3×3 basketball. Three years ago, the Hungarian national team only missed Tokyo by a whisker, as the women’s team with Debrecen’s Dóra Medgyessy lost in a heartbreaking battle with a last-second basket in the final, but the men’s team also bled to death in the all-deciding final. The latter fact is all the more painful because Belgium, who won the tournament in Debrecen after the five-OCOC games, were subsequently disqualified for cheating during qualification.
As fate would have it, our national teams may once again try to qualify for the second Olympics in the history of the sport from Debrecen, although the rapid development of the sport means that they will have a much tougher task ahead of them. The women have already had one attempt to qualify for Paris, but after winning their group at the Hong Kong tournament, they lost in the semi-finals to eventual winners Azerbaijan.
Five nations have already qualified for the Olympics in both genders, with the United States, China, Serbia, Latvia and the Netherlands in the men’s event, while the women’s five of France, China, United States, Azerbaijan and Australia have already booked their flights to Paris. Debrecen will decide the remaining three or three places, which will be contested by 16-16 teams over four days. The Hungarian women’s national team has made one change from the last qualifying tournament, with Klaudia Papp, Vivien Böröndy and Virág Kiss joined by Fanni Szabó. In the men’s team, Attila Demeter, László Komma and Uros Rosics will be fighting for the Olympic title alongside Tamás Ivosev, who once played for DEAC.
Debrecen 3×3 Olympic qualification participants:
Women: Germany, Canada, Spain, Hungary, Netherlands, Japan, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Egypt, Italy, Ukraine, Israel, Mongolia, Chile, Tunisia.
Men: Lithuania, France, Mongolia, Belgium, Austria, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, Puerto Rico, Poland, Israel, Egypt, Spain, Madagascar, Spain.
The Hungarian group matches in Debrecen:
Women, Group D
16 May
19.20: Hungary-Israel
21.35: Hungary-Netherlands
18 May
20.45: Hungary-Italy
Men, Group B
17 May
19.20: Hungary-Israel
21.35: Hungary-Puerto Rico
18 May
21.35: Hungary-Austria
(visitdebrecen)
