The schedule for the Games has been released and, starting with the opening ceremony on Thursday 28 July 2022, the event will run for 11 days.
Basketball fans won’t have to wait long for a taste of the action, with the inaugural 3x3 competition set to take place between Friday 29 July and Tuesday 2 August at an iconic new outdoor venue at Smithfield in the centre of the city.
Basketball England CEO Stewart Kellett said: "The Commonwealth Games will set such a brilliant stage for us to showcase our sport to the nation in the really exciting, vibrant form of 3x3.
“We want the basketball community to join us and for an army of new fans and potential players to be inspired by great England teams claiming more Commonwealth Games basketball medals.”
Our England teams will be looking to better previous achievements when the Men’s and Women’s teams won bronze in 2006 in Melbourne and the Women claimed silver at the 2018 Games on the Gold Coast.
Basketball England also aims to use the Games to inspire a legacy by helping to revive and renovate amazing outdoor spaces across the country and make homes for basketball within our communities.
Kellett added: "Soon we will reveal our framework for the 3x3 game in England and how we will recruit players and specialist support staff for the Games. We will be engaging with elite players and 3x3 specialists alike to put together two great squads. We know we have the talent – between now and 2022, we will go about harnessing it.
“We also want to use the Games to create a lasting legacy for the sport, using our Project Swish initiative to inspire and assist communities and clubs in bringing more great outdoor spaces for basketball to life across England.”
The first of Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games’ ‘Hometown Heroes’ was also announced last week, with City of Birmingham Rockets coach Ricardo D’Alva being chosen to kick off a campaign to find stars of West Midlands community sport.
Birmingham 2022, the largest sports event to be held in UK since the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, will feature 19 sports, with eight para sports integrated into the programme, creating the biggest para sports offering in Commonwealth Games history.
The schedule confirms there will be two full weekends of competition, a move which is hoped will allow more than one million spectators to attend the biggest sporting event ever to be held in the West Midlands.
Basketball fans are now being urged to sign up for ticket updates as excitement for the Games continues to build. You can register your interest using the button below.
