Caledonia Gladiators’ Zoe Sharpe will travel to Heraklion, Crete in Greece for the 2023 FIBA 3×3 U17 Europe Cup with GB U17s. This comes following the qualification which took place Szolnok, Hungary.
The squad, made up of Sharpe, Katie Cox, Esther Kursite-Kobri, and Valerie Cassidy-De Falco, coached by Caitlyn Riley, performed outstandingly in the qualifiers to reach the tournament’s main stage. They defeated Denmark, Sweden and Latvia, securing the top spot in the women’s category. Gladiators’ High-Performance Academy player, Aymen Kraria represented GB on the men’s side in the qualifiers, but his side failed to qualify.
Also in the off-season, Sharpe travelled with GB U18s to Sofia, Bulgaria, competing in the summer’s European Championships coached by Nottingham Wildcats’ Karen Burton.
The Inverness-born guard will head to London today for a two-day training camp and will watch teammate Katie Cox compete for the Lions in the EuroLeague Women qualifying fixture against Hungary’s DVTK Hun-Therm at the Copper Box, before heading to Greece.
Zoe Sharpe said: “I’m so excited for the tournament. I love how dynamic and fast 3×3 basketball is and I know we’re gonna have a lot of fun! We’ve been drawn against some tough teams but we’re really looking forward to the challenge.”
Currently, the side has two scheduled fixtures. They will face Germany and Portugal on Saturday evening at 6.40 PM and 8.30 PM respectively. GB will move on in the tournament if the results go well in their opening games. Everything will be streamed LIVE on the FIBA 3×3 YouTube channel!
