Shocking news came out of the blue early last month when the Japan Basketball Association revealed that the wild-card spot for either its men's or women's national 3x3 teams would be negated by the International Olympic Committee.
In late March, FIBA had granted automatic berths to all four of Jaan's national teams — for the men's and women's traditional teams and for both 3x3 squads — as the host of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
But now, Japan's women's 3x3 squad gave up its automatic ticket and has to earn one for the Summer Games on its own because its world ranking was lower than the men's.
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