Canada has a team in the 3-on-3 basketball World Cup for the first time, with three Edmontonians on the roster.
Steve Sir, Jermaine Bucknor and Jordan Baker of Edmonton join Michael Linklater and Michael Lieffers of Saskatoon to represent Canada in Manila, Philippines at the FIBA 3-on-3 World Cup, which kicked off last Thursday.
The team started the tournament strong with a 21-15 victory over Mongolia, followed by a 20-17 win over Russia.
Sir, 35, is a three-point specialist who holds the NCAA record for three-point field goal percentage, with 46 percent in his four years at Northern Arizona. He joined the team last year.
Baker, 26, joined the team recently as a spare. He's the University of Alberta Golden Bears all-time leading scorer.
Bucknor played with Sir at Ross Sheppard High School and has played for several teams in Europe over the past decade.
Canada is ranked 14th in the World Cup, but the team still has a shot at succeeding in the tournament, said Alberta Basketball executive director Paul Sir.
"I can see a scenario where team Canada could be competing for the world championship on down to not making it to the quarterfinals because the competition is just so tough," he said.
Paul is familiar with the Edmonton players on the roster — particularly Steve Sir, his son.
"To see it come full circle where kids that have played in our tournaments, that I coached against and personally coached, then to have our son play, his high school teammate play, and probably the finest player from the University of Alberta now be on the team, it is of course very, very gratifying," he said.
There's things happening globally now that this team will want to be a part of as they continue to make their case to be one of of the top teams in the world.- Paul Sir, Alberta Basketball executive director
Canada will wrap up the round robin Monday with a game against Philippines followed by a match against Brazil. CBCSports.ca will provide a live stream of the event
Paul said he's looking forward to the game against Philippines.
"They're going to be playing in front of many, many thousands of people in an absolutely basketball-crazy country," he said.
Team Canada is trying to win as many tournaments as possible in preparation for the debut of 3-on-3 basketball at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
"There's things happening globally now that this team will want to be a part of as they continue to make their case to be one of of the top teams in the world when the 2020 Olympics come around," Paul said.