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When Tsurigasaki Beach in Ichinomiya, Chiba prefecture was selected as the surfing venue for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games, residents of the small town of just over 12,000 people were ecstatic.
Surfing plays a major role in the town s economy, with over 60,000 surfers visiting each year to catch the best waves in Japan. Ichinomiya’s “surfonomics” or surf economy from the Olympics was estimated to be around 10 billion yen or over $124 million (AUD).
But things are looking a lot different now.
The ongoing states of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic and postponement of the games was already a huge blow, with the town’s hospitality industry relying on crowdfunding last year to keep it afloat.
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Like basketball but with four fewer players on the court at any one time.
The sport s profile was elevated by Ice Cube s Big 3 tournament back in 2017, which featured a bevy of ex-NBA stars.
With obvious roots in pick-up basketball, 3x3 ball is played on a half-court and
the winner is the first team to 21 or the team leading after 10 minutes.
The scoring system is also similar to casual basketball, with the traditional three-point line serving as a two-point line and every bucket scored from inside the line worth just one point.
When is it? 3x3 basketball will be the first of all the brand new sports to show out at this year s Olympics, with the pool rounds starting on Saturday, July 24. The medal games are on Wednesday, July 28.