TORONTO, ON. (May 1, 2019) – Canada has been granted a slot as a replacement team in the FIBA 3x3 World Cup Qualifier 2019 in San Juan, Puerto Rico on May 4-5 after FIBA announced Nigeria is unable to participate due to visa issues.

Captain Michael Linklater, Bikramjit Gill, Jelane Pryce and Wyatt Anders will represent Canada after accepting invitations to compete at the FIBA 3x3 World Cup Qualifier 2019.  Invitations were extended to players based on their 3x3 Individual Federation Ranking.

“Being able to represent your nation is one of the highest honours any athlete could receive,” Linklater said. “I am extremely grateful for this opportunity and we will do our best to make our country proud.”

This will be Linklater’s second time representing Canada internationally after the longstanding 3x3 veteran captained the team to a sixth-place finish at the FIBA 3x3 World Cup 2018.  Gill, originally from Toronto, is a member of Team Delhi on the FIBA 3x3 World Tour, while Pryce and Anders are teammates on Team Winnipeg and finished second at the 3x3 Canada Quest National Finals last year.  Combined, the team has over 400 games played between each member.

Canada replaces Nigeria in Men's Pool A along with France, Germany and Italy.

Teams are divided into two pools of four teams playing in a round-robin first round against their three respective pool opponents. The pool winners will directly qualify for the semifinals, while the 2nd- and 3rd-placed teams in each pool will play a quarter-final with the winners advancing to the semifinals.

The winners of each semifinals will qualify directly to the FIBA 3x3 World Cup 2019, while the losers of the semifinals will play a final game for the final spot in the FIBA 3x3 World Cup.

Canada enters the FIBA 3x3 World Cup Qualifier 2019 ranked 19th globally (3rd Americas) after accumulating 7,209,420 3x3 Federation ranking points.  FIBA 3x3 Federation Ranking is calculated by adding up the FIBA 3x3 Individual World Ranking points of each country’s Top 100 players.

The top 3 teams in each gender will secure their ticket to the FIBA 3x3 World Cup 2019, which will be held in Amsterdam, Netherlands on June 18-23.

The FIBA 3x3 World Cup 2019 is an important step on the road to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as the medalists will automatically qualify for an Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which will be held in May 2020.

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