Basketball

Basketball is one of the world’s most popular sports and in Singapore the 3 on 3 format will and the dedicated *scape Youth Space venue will make it the coolest event at the Games. Australia will send a girls team (four players) to compete in basketball at Singapore. 

Qualification

The tournaments for boys and girls will be composed of the host NOC team, three NOC
Universality Place teams (UP), the four best-placed teams in the respective FIBA gender ranking (Performance Representation) as of May 2009 and 12 teams selected by FIBA, with a minimum of one team per continent.

Rules / Scoring

The rules of 3 on 3 basketball are quite simple. A team consists of four players (three players are on the court and one is a substitute) and one coach. The game is played on a half court with one basket, in three periods of five minutes each.

The team first scoring 33 points or leading the game after the regular game time is the winner. If the score is tied at the end of the last period, the game shall continue with as many extra periods of two minutes as is necessary to break the tie.

Most of the FIBA rules regarding scoring and fouling are valid.  A player who has committed five fouls must leave the game. A team is in a penalty foul situation when it has committed three fouls in a period. The team must attempt a shot for a field goal within 14 seconds. Substitution is permitted when the ball becomes dead.

Competition Format

The Youth Olympic basketball competition comprises girls’ and boys’ events. Both events have the same format and rules. Twenty teams are divided into four groups of five teams.

Each team plays every other team in its group. Teams placed 1st and 2nd in each group will play elimination games in quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals (1st to 8th place), teams placed 3rd and 4th in each group will play the same system (9th to 16th place) and teams placed 5th in each group will play in a round robin (17th to 20th place).

Differences with the World Youth Games

The only difference between a FIBA Junior World Championships is having 3-on-3 instead of the standard 5 vs 5.

Venue - *scape YOUTH SPACE

Located in the heart of Singapore’s major shopping district of Orchard Road, the *scape
Youth Space is a two-hectare land space that has been set aside as an iconic community space for youth.

*scape Youth Space is next to Cineleisure Orchard, a lifestyle complex frequented by young people. Called the *scape Youth Space, it comprises the *scape Youth Park, *scape Skate Park, *scape Youth Centre, and *scape Field. It is an outdoor playground for street sports and performances that was set up in response to the needs of Singaporean youth in 2004. *scape Youth Space aims to be a hub for youth cultural and community activities.

*scape is packed with roller-blading and skating enthusiasts on weekends. It held the Singapore Drum Fest in 2008, and has housed creative exhibitions, showcases of local bands and street sports and performances.

A new five-storey urban community space extension of *scape will encompass the conceptual spaces of Grid, Warehouse, Studio, Cache, Playground and Street+Market, making it the place for youth to congregate and network. The Youth Olympic Games’ 3 on 3 basketball will be the first international street basketball event to be held in the *scape Youth Space. It will also be one of the venues for the Culture and Education Program.

Australia and Olympic Basketball

The Australian women have produced the best results at the Olympics winning medals at the past four Games - bronze in Atlanta 1996 and silver in Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.
Australia’s men first played in Melbourne 1956 and have qualified for every Olympics since with the exception of Rome 1960 and Mexico City 1968. The best finish for the Boomers has been fourths in Seoul (1988), Barcelona (1992) and Sydney (2000).

In Montreal, Ed Palubinskas, a shooting wizard, was the leading scorer in the Olympic basketball tournament, after being runner-up in Munich. Palubinskas was Australia’s first internationally rated basketballer. Andrew Gaze is the second highest scorer in the history of the men's Olympic basketball competition with 789 points. Gaze carried the flag at the Sydney Opening Ceremony.

As well as having Lauren Jackson, Penny Taylor and Andrew Bogut starring in the WNBA and NBA respectively in recent years the Australian Junior Teams have had great success. Singapore 2010 could be their next podium finish.