MONTREAL (Canada) – Canada finished the FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series regular season in style by winning their third stop of the season in Montreal on September 2-3, 2022.

Canada had a perfect 5-0 record in Montreal. After winning their first 4 games by a 10-point margin on average, they were pushed to their limits in the final by a surprising France U24 team. Katherine Plouffe took over and scored a game-high 12 points in the final to help Canada win a 19-18 thriller. Her teammate Paige Crozon was named MVP of the competition.

After winning in Edmonton and Bucharest, Canada became the only team to win 3 stops this season. Though they only rank third in the season standings, they own the best winning percentage in the competition. They only lost 3 times in 23 games (87% winning percentage), making them one of the favorites for the Constanta Final on September 17-18, where there will be a total of 279,000 US dollars in prize money.

France, Germany, Canada, Spain, USA, Lithuania and the Romanian hosts had already clinched their qualification to the Final. Commercial team Düsseldorf Zoos (GER) stamped the last ticket to Romania in Montreal. They beat USA in the quarter-finals and finished 4th in the standings, just enough to contain France U24’s late surge in the regular season standings.

MONTREAL STOP FINAL STANDINGS
1. Canada
2. France U24
3. Spain
4. Düsseldorf Zoos (GER)
5. USA
6. Lithuania
7. France
8. Hungary
9. EXEWING (JPN)
10. Latvia
11. Netherlands
12.Toronto (CAN)

The USA won gold on its home ice, Canada claimed silver and Team World won bronze on Sunday (28 August) at the first-ever Para Ice Hockey Women’s World Challenge presented by Citi in Green Bay, USA.

“It’s probably the greatest feeling in the world right now. It’s as if we won the Stanley Cup,” said US captain Erica McKee, a Chicago native who has been playing at the national level for 13 years, waiting for a moment like this.

The host nation went undefeated in Green Bay, winning all four of its games, including a 5-1 win over arch rival Canada in the gold-medal game.

St. Louis native Katie Ladlie opened up the gold-medal contest with two goals in the first four minutes in front of a nearly capacity crowd at the Cornerstone Community Center that erupted with ringing cowbells and chants of U-S-A after both of her goals.

A minute and a half later, a determined Raphaelle Tousignant powered through the crease for a top-shelf score, putting Canada on the board as she pumped her fist high in the air. Lera Doederlein and Catherine Faherty responded, both adding goals for the US before the end of the period to extend its lead to three. Kelsey DiClaudio was credited with three assists in the period.

Catherine Faherty added an insurance goal in the third period with under five minutes remaining to cap off the historic title for Team USA.

“I feel ecstatic. I feel amazing. It’s such an honour to represent my country right now,” said Ladlie after the game. “My teammates allowed me to make those two goals. It was really all about the teamwork.”

Canadian goaltender Tracey Arnold recorded 15 saves on the day, and USA’s Hope Bevilhymer had three saves.

The US is now ranked No. 1 in the world in both men’s and women’s Para ice hockey, with Canada ranked No. 2 in both divisions.

“We have a pretty young team, so the future is bright in Canada,” said Tousignant, who led the tournament with five goals alongside teammate Aubree Clements.

“This was our first event so now that we got to see what it’d be like we can go back home and share our experience with people to better our team in the future.”

TEAM WORLD SKATES TO BRONZE

In the bronze-medal contest, Team World capped off its tournament with a decisive 5-0 victory over Great Britain to clinch the final spot on the podium.

Forward Ai Lin Zheng and defender Rebecca Mann scored within an 18-minute span of each other midway through the first frame to give Team World an early two-goal advantage, and Zheng found the net again with 58 seconds left in the period to extend the lead to three.

Defender Cindy Ouellet, a dual-sport athlete in wheelchair basketball, added a goal for Team World in the second stanza and Mann added an insurance goal in the third on a breakaway.

British goaltender Nicole Jodi Hill, a 2012 Paralympian in sitting volleyball, racked up seven saves on the day, while Elisabeth Bisaillon and Hope Magelky split the goaltending duties for Team World, combining for three saves.

With two wins in four games, the 13 players on Team World representing seven different nations were ecstatic to medal only five days after first meeting each other.

“With every game, I’ve felt more confident and learned more and more. There is more to learn, but that was awesome and I enjoyed every second on the ice,” said Latvian forward Dina Grinberga, who had an assist in the game and has been the heart of the team in Green Bay.

“This was super encouraging, and we all joined together because a lot of us don’t have home teams, so we came together because we wanted to be here so badly.”

The Para Ice Hockey Women’s World Challenge served as a major stepping stone on the road to an eventual Women’s World Championship, with the ultimate goal of expanding female participation in Para ice hockey worldwide and adding it to the Paralympic Winter Games programme.

The event was sponsored by Citi as part of the IPC’s new PARA SPORT grassroots to high performance programme, which aims to change the narrative around people with disabilities and provide Para athletes and their member organisations with a platform to drive social progress.

More information about the teams and complete results can be found on the Women’s World Challenge microsite https://www.paralympic.org/green-bay-2022.

JULY 30, 2022

EDMONTON (Canada) –  Canada won their first Women’s Series Stop of the year at the Edmonton Stop on July 29-30.

Just one month after claiming silver at the Crelan FIBA 3×3 World Cup 2022, Canada won their first Women’s Series event of 2022 in front of their home fans at the Edmonton Stop defeating USA 21-17 in the final. Michelle Plouffe led the Canadians in the final with 13 points, including the game-winner. Linnae Harper was USA’s top scorer in the title game with 10 points.

Michelle Plouffe, who was named MVP of the competition, finished as top scorer of the event with 43 points, 10 more than Linnae Harper, who was second in the scoring charts.

This is the first FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series win for Canada since 2019, when they also won in Edmonton.

FINAL STANDINGS
1. Canada
2. USA
3. France
4. Force 10
5. Germany
6. EXEWING
7. Netherlands
8. Romania

MIES (Switzerland) – FIBA’s Central Board convened today at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball for the first time since its inaugural meeting in September 2019. The Central Board had not been able to meet in person due to the pandemic and members were warmly welcomed to FIBA headquarters on the shores of Lake Geneva. The Central Board along with FIBA HQ staff were also invited to a special function on Thursday night to celebrate the occasion.
 

With a very busy calendar of events for 2022, including the Women’s World Cup and three Continental Cups, the first meeting of the year had a full agenda. The following key topics were discussed:

FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 and Qualifying Tournaments

The Central Board heard reports on the recent FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 Qualifying Tournaments that were held in February in Serbia, Japan, the USA and the Dominican Republic. A progress report was also received on the ongoing preparations for the upcoming FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022. The draw for the highly anticipated event was recently confirmed in Sydney, Australia, and pre-ticket sales were launched earlier this month, with general public tickets going on sale on March 29.

FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 and Qualifiers

Preparations continue for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 across the three host countries of the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. Reports were received on this progress along with the two Qualifier windows that have been played, the most recent in February. The next window will take place from June 27 to July 5.

The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 also moved another step closer to becoming a reality earlier this month, with tickets for the global showcase in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia going on sale.

FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup’s 2022

The Central Board received reports on the upcoming U17 World Cups, with the men’s tournament taking place in Spain from July 2 to 10, and the women in Hungary, as part of the multi-host model, from July 9 to 17. Both draws for the men’s and women’s were confirmed this month in Malaga and Budapest.

FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026

Following the recent review of the current women’s competition system and the Executive Committee’s decision to implement a new competition that will act as pre-qualifiers to the next World Cup or to the next Olympic Games, the Central Board has approved the proposed expansion of the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 to 16 teams, and the roster of the Women’s World Cup Qualifiers to 24 teams qualified from the respective Continental Cups 2025. These decisions are in line with FIBA’s Women in Basketball strategic objective, with the aim of granting a larger number of National Federations meaningful and regular international competitions. The bidding process for the 2026 edition of the flagship women’s event will open in the next weeks.

Club Competitions 

Updates were presented to the Central Board on the Basketball Champions League (BCL) sixth season, with Quarter-Finals starting on April 5. Status reports were also received on the current Basketball Champions League Americas (BCLA) third season, with Quarter-Finals starting on April 6, and the Basketball Africa League, which tipped off on March 5 in Senegal.

A report was also given on the FIBA Intercontinental Cup 2022 which was played for the first time in Africa, in Egypt, from February 11 to 13. It was also the first time in basketball history that a club competition featured teams from four different regional leagues. Flamengo, from Brazil, was crowned the winner.

Impact of the situation in Ukraine

Following the recent decision by FIBA on Russian teams and officials, the Central Board approved the proposal to maintain the current protective measures in place until mid-May, when a new evaluation of the situation and appropriate decisions can be made.

Safeguarding of players

The Central Board has approved the creation of the FIBA Safeguarding Council. The FIBA Safeguarding Council will act as an advisory body to FIBA on matters related to safeguarding and protection of vulnerable groups of basketball participants. It will also provide advice on helping to ensure a safe environment for all FIBA stakeholders is in place and address other relevant matters. HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein, IOC member and President of the National Olympic Committee of Jordan, has been appointed as the Founding Chairman of the Safeguarding Council.

Other Matters

The Central Board heard from the FIBA Foundation on its current Basketball For Good programs and Cultural Heritage activities. The Foundation’s planned projects for 2022 and activities linked to the FIBA 90th anniversary celebrations were also presented.

Progress reports were given on FIBA’s current strategic priorities for the cycle: Empower National Federations, Women in Basketball and Enlarge FIBA Family.

The Central Board approved the FIBA Consolidated Financial Statements for 2021.

LAHORE : Canada kicked off Faisalabad leg of Kabaddi World Cup 2020 with a close 40-31 victory against Azerbaijan while Iran whipped Germany by a huge margin of 55-23 in the second match on the 4th day of grand tournament at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad on Wednesday. England kabaddi team thrashed Sierra Leone by 41-26 in the third match of the day. 
Canada’s Naveen was adjudged best raider while the title of best stopper went to Canada’s Ravi Kumar in the first match. Iran’s Mesal Muhammadi and captain Ali Safari were declared best raider and stopper of the second match respectively.

Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports Malik Umer Farooq, MPA Latif Gujjar, Secretary Youth Affairs, Sports, Archeology and Tourism Punjab Ehsan Bhutta and DG Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh, who were the guests of honour, distributed prizes among best players of the matches.
Deputy Commissioner Faisalabad Muhammad Ali, CPO Muhammad Sohail Ch, President Pakistan Kabaddi Federation (PKF) Ch Shafay Hussain, Secretary PKF Rana Sarwar and top officials of law enforcing departments were also present on this occasion.

Earlier, Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports Malik Umer Farooq, Secretary Youth Affairs, Sports, Archeology and Tourism Punjab Ehsan Bhutta and DG Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh warmly received the kabaddi teams upon reaching Faisalabad. The kabaddi lovers also witnessed entertaining horse dance on this occasion.

It is pertinent mention here that Kabaddi World Cup 2020 is being organized jointly by Punjab govt, Sports Board Punjab and Pakistan Kabaddi Federation (PKF) at three cities of Punjab Lahore, Faisalabad and Gujrat from February 9 to 16, 2020.

Azerbaijan won the toss but they could not launch their campaign against comparatively strong Canada team with confidence. Canadian raiders and stoppers took initiative but Azerbaijan offered some resistance in the middle stages of the exciting clash and managed to minimize the margin of defeat but Canada emerged winners.

In the second match, Iran won the toss and dominated the match proceedings from the beginning. Iran were leading by 18-7 at the end of first quarter, 44-19 at the end of second quarter and finally wrapped up their comfortable triumph with a score of 55-23. Iran’s raider Mustafa Sadqi, Mustafa Pheeni, Mir Muhammdi and Germany’s Manpreet Singh Manna got huge appreciation from the large crowd due to their impressive performance in the match.

Schedule of Feb 13 matches:
Iran will face India in the first match at 1.30pm while the second match will be played between Sierra Leone and Germany at 2.45pm. Hosts Pakistan will take on Australian kabaddi team at 4.00pm in the third and last match of the 5th day activity.