Commonwealth Games: Kenya make 'great start' to 3x3 basketball journey

Veteran Hilda Indasi believes Kenya's men and women teams have represented Africa well in the maiden 3x3 basketball at the Commonwealth Games despite their quarter-final exits.

Both teams reached the last eight after finishing third in their groups, with the men losing 20-15 against Australia and the women 21-12 to England.

But Indasi, 37, who appeared for Kenya at the 2013 and 2019 African women's basketball championships, is only taking positives from the East African country's campaign in Birmingham.

"Of course, we could have done better. But I feel that we have done really well considering this is the first time we are playing at this level," Indasi told BBC Sport Africa.

"We played against professional three-on-three players, and players that have big names like household names across the world.

"I feel like we have performed really well. This is a great start to a perfect journey for us."

The 3x3 variation of basketball, the shortened version of the standard five-a-side game, is appearing at the Commonwealth Games for the first time together with wheelchair 3x3 basketball.

The format is now growing in popularity in parts of Africa, according to Indasi.

The fourth edition of The International Basketball Federation (Fiba) 3x3 Africa Cup and the second edition of the Fiba 3x3 Under-17 Africa Cup will be held in Egypt's capital city Cairo in December 2022.

"I've been getting messages from people from East Africa, not just Kenya, and they're really proud of us, they think we performed really well," added Indasi.

"They didn't expect such a performance from us because we have never been here.

"It's going develop us even more and moving forward, when you look at the fixtures and the calendar of events, there's more 3x3 events coming up. Women are going to participate in these things and it is going to raise Africa in this sport."

Egypt stood out on the 3x3 court during the last edition of both the Fiba 3x3 Africa Cup and the Fiba 3x3 U17 Africa Cup (then played at U18 level), which took place in Kampala, Uganda. in November 2019.

The North Africans won gold with their senior men's, women's and male U18 team, while Mali claimed the women's U18 title.

The 3x3 version of the game is played on a half court, with both teams shooting at the same basket.

Each side has three players on court at any one time in matches lasting 10 minutes - or until a team scores 21 points if that happens sooner.

It is a faster, more furious, version of basketball and, according to an International Olympic Committee (IOC) study, the world's most popular urban sport.

"It's a very intense game and requires quick decision-making," Indasi said.

"You need a lot of agility. No offense to people that are very good at five-on-five, but 3x3 is a different ball game. It is really exciting."

Latvia's men and the United States' women took gold when it was first played at the Olympic Games in Tokyo last year, and eight teams participated in each debut tournament at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

The competitions started with a round-robin pool stage, with the best six sides proceeding to the knockout stage.

Hosts England have reached the final of both tournaments, with the men facing Australia and the women taking on Canada in the gold medal matches on Tuesday evening.