GB Men advance to FIBA 3×3 Europe Cup for first time

Great Britain’s men have advanced to the FIBA 3X3 Europe Cup for the first time.

GB – made up of Ashley Hamilton, Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye, Evan Walshe and Hafeez Abdul, secured three wins on the last day of the qualifiers in Bucharest, Romania, with a finals win over Israel, punching their ticket to Vienna, Austria, on 22-25 August.

“I’m really proud of the guys performance throughout this whole weekend,” said Great Britain men’s 3X3 coach Julius Joseph.

“From game to game, they learned and as the games went on, they got better and better. That made the game easier for ourselves, putting in better performances, they just worked so hard in every single game, they stayed together, they stayed positive and we are just a great group of guys to have.

“It was a pleasure to coach them and I’m proud, happy and excited for them to get this opportunity to play in the FIBA 3X3 Europe Cup.”

Meanwhile, it was not to be for the women – made up of Claire Paxton, Hannah Jump, Hannah Rob and Savannah Wilkinson – who fell agonisingly short at the final hurdle of the FIBA 3X3 Europe Cup Qualifiers in Bucharest, Romania on Sunday.

A win over Greece was a confidence booster ahead of their finals match-up with Romania, but despite their best efforts, Great Britain fell short by the narrowest of margins.

“It was a bittersweet moment,” said Head Coach Krumesh Patel. “They did an excellent job to make the final in their first attempt together after only practicing for a couple of weeks is amazing.

“To push Romania, a team that have been together for a long time, been to the Olympics, and play until the last seconds is great, but despite their experience, it’s bittersweet because we believed we could have taken them. They took advantage of our errors, but this is something we can learn and build from.

“This is the platform we are starting from to push in the next few years then it should be an excellent project for us to continue, but couldn’t be more proud of the women for their effort, they’ve been amazing, along with our strength and conditioning team and everyone involved, we will keep building as a professional programme.”

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