By sportswriters Zheng Zhi, Lin Deren, and Zhou Mian
CHANGSHA, May 26 (Xinhua) -- "Everything is possible with 3x3", FIBA executive director David Crocker commented when he attended the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup 2019 held in Changsha, the capital city of central China's Hunan Province.
The city also hosted the FIBA Asia Championship 2015. One can see from the passionate reaction of the audiences that 5x5 basketball and 3x3 are both well-received here, just like in the other places of the world.
"They're two disciplines of the best sport in the world, which is basketball. The winning team remains the one who is better at putting a ball in a basket," Crocker said. "However, 3x3 is played at a frenetic pace: 12-second shot clock, 10-minute games without breaks. We call 3x3 'the 10-minute sprint'. "
"There is no help defense meaning that players need to be versatile and guard anyone. There is no coach on the court meaning that the players are empowered," he said. "The games are so fast and short that 25 percent of the games are decided by two points or less."
Therefore, unique opportunity is brought to countries those were not considered competitive in basketball. "Mongolia won the Asia Cup two years ago while not being known as a basketball powerhouse at all in Asia. The USA have never won gold with the men at the FIBA 3x3 World Cup in five editions.
"Everything is possible with 3x3," the executive director said.
The possibilities are not limited to the players and teams, it is also possible for more fans to get closer to the sport.
"3x3 can be played anywhere. Obviously the footprint is smaller means the venues are more compact but also more intimate. The fans are extremely close to the court and the players," he said when introducing the upcoming 3x3 World Cup 2019. "We will host it in Amsterdam, Netherlands next month. It will be played on one of the most iconic squares in the city, where the Van Gogh and many other museums are located."
At the same time, it doesn't mean that the location has to be as compact as people would imagine.
"The FIBA 3x3 World Cup 2018 was played in the Philippine Arena, which can host up to 60,000 people," he added.
Big or small as the stadium could be, the sport will have a grand Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, as the International Olympic Committee added 3x3 to the official Olympic program permanently on June 9, 2017.
"Since then, FIBA has put a lot of attention into developing international events to prepare the Olympians of tomorrow, in the professional circuit like in national team competitions, like here at the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup.
"3x3 has been one of the most successful disciplines at the Youth Olympic Games since 2010 and this gives us tremendous confidence that it will be a hit in Tokyo too. The Olympics will bring an outstanding platform for the discipline to be shown to a universal audience," Crocker said.
He is also positive about China's future in the 3x3 event, as the country just won men's and women's gold medal in 2018 Asian Games with two teams mainly consisted of grassroots players.
"China has been a pioneer when it comes to 3x3 development, and a very successful one too. In both grassroots community and elite level, China has input tremendous effort to make it happen. We have no doubt that in long term vision, China will constantly be a strong force for development, and also a regular medal winner on global stage."
Crocker also praised China's effort on building 3x3 professional league.
"China is definitely on the right track of building 3x3 professional league. One of the main challenges will be building the high-performance players pool, but we think China has done a great job to overcome the challenge so far.
"China has set a great example to other countries on this path," he said.
