Austria is not a typical country whose favorite sports are basketball, football, volleyball, tennis, rugby union and field hockey.
Due to their place which is surrounded with many mountains the sport they usually play are alpine skiing, snowboarding and ski-jumping. Their most popular sport is alpine skiing in fact there are a lot of tournaments created for that sport alone. The most popular team sport or should I say the only team sport that caught Austrian’s attention is football however they do not excel that much in international competitions because they are not that aggressive and active in that field.
Basketball in Austria is of less importance compared to a lot of countries whose main focus is to make their basketball teams stronger.
Although basketball is not popular in Austria basketball is still played there and exist up to now. In fact the government created basketball organizations and clubs which could help build a stronger foundation for the people who play basketball. The government also supports the Austria national basketball team that represents the country in every international basketball competition they participate.
Austria National basketball team
The Austria National basketball team ranked 77th in FIBA and has not yet appeared in any FIBA World Championship competition nor Olympic game. The only international tournament that Austria has participated is the Eurobasket league.
They started participating in the said competition in year 1947 wherein they had placed 12th among 14 teams after being defeated by Albania. Their first try in the international competition had made them become more determined in playing basketball, their low rank in that season did not discouraged them instead they become more eager to play and win in basketball competitions.
After four years they again participated in the Eurobasket league, stronger and more determined to win, the team was able to defeat 7 teams which made them ranked 11th among the 18 teams.
This certainly shows that in a span of four years the team had improved and had learned more strategies in basketball. The 1951 Eurobasket league is also the greatest and highest rank that the team got in their 6 years of appearing in the said tournament. After their 1951 Eurobasket tournament appearance, the team’s defense got weaker.
They continued to participate in the Eurobasket league however they got low rankings consecutively. In 1995 they ranked 13th among 18 teams, in 1959 they ranked 14th among 18 teams, in 1957 they ranked 14th among 16 teams, in 1959 they ranked 16th among 17 teams and in year 1977 they had ranked 12th among the 12 teams.
The 1977 Eurobasket league was the last international competition they had joined and that was the lowest rank that they had ever recorded.
As of now the Austria national basketball team may not be visible in major international competitions but they are still active in local competitions. They continue to practice playing basketball and is busy improving their strategies for one day they will surely surprise the world on how they had improved in basketball.
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