Australia's Hopes for Gold Rush

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Fresh from winning the 3x3 Asia Cup, Australia’s men’s team will head to Birmingham with hopes of securing a gold medal.

3x3 is being played at the Commonwealth Games for the first time, with some familiar NBL faces on show.

Perth’s Jesse Wagstaff and Adelaide’s Daniel Johnson will be in action, alongside former Wildcat Greg Hire and NBL1 player, the Sandringham Sabres’ Tom Wright.

“To be selected for the Australian Commonwealth Games team and represent my country once again is a dream come true,” Wagstaff said.

The 36-year-old appeared played for the Boomers in the traditional 5-v-5 format at the 2018 event, winning gold, but now he’s back for more.

“I love basketball 3x3’s physicality, speed and intensity. Once we get on the court it’s all systems go, which makes it a fantastic spectator sport,” Wagstaff added.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">?? Australia are your FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup 2022 gold medalists ? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/3x3Asia?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#3x3Asia</a> <a href="https://t.co/qUEX5ue0MZ">pic.twitter.com/qUEX5ue0MZ</a></p>— FIBA3x3 (@FIBA3x3) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBA3x3/status/1546120109416058880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 10, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

In all, Australia has four teams in action, in men’s, women’s, men’s wheelchair, and women’s wheelchair.

For the first time, both able-bodied and Para-basketball teams will be competing together at international level.

The full schedule of games is as follows:
(All times AEST)

Men’s

Sunday, July 31
Australia v Trinidad & Tobago 12:30am – 3:00am
Australia v New Zealand 4:30am – 7:00am

Monday, August 1
England v Australia 4:30am – 7:00am

Squad: Greg Hire, Daniel Johnson, Jesse Wagstaff, Thomas Wright

Women’s

Saturday, July 30
Australia v Scotland 12:30am – 3:00am
Australia v Kenya 4:30am – 7:00am

Monday, August 1
Sri Lanka v Australia 12:30am – 3:00am

Squad: Lauren Mansfield, Lauren Scherf, Marena Whittle, Alex Wilson

Men’s Wheelchair