Ade Adepitan expects “sparks to fly and tyres to burn” as the “brutal” action of 3x3 Wheelchair Basketball and 3x3 Basketball starts at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.
The Paralympic bronze medallist and TNT Sports presenter has given a vivid description of the intense action that will unfold at the SEC Centre from 24 July to 29 July 2026.
3x3 Basketball and 3x3 Wheelchair Basketball will be one of Glasgow 2026's most electric sports, built for noise, with urban-roots and festival-like atmosphere. 3x3 uses a smaller court, a 12 second shot clock and games lasting 10 minutes or less if a team reaches 21 points.
Played in front of a roaring crowd and a full-on party atmosphere, the action gets underway on Friday with expanded fields – 12 nations compete per gender in the running game and eight each in the wheelchair event - reflecting the rapid global growth and appeal of the sport.
The action will unfold across 13 sessions, with the schedule throwing up intriguing clashes throughout and there’s sure to be a fireworks finale on the court on Wednesday 29 July, the final medals day.
It was Canada who came out on top four years ago winning two of the four gold medals - with victory in the women’s 3x3 Basketball and women’s 3x3 Wheelchair Basketball events - as the sport made its debut at Birmingham 2022.
Giving a taste of what to expect in the action, Adepitan, who won a bronze medal at the 2004 Paralympics, said: “You’ll be able to see the whites of the eyes of the players and also really feel the power and see the athleticism.
“You’ll see guys smashing into each other and knocking nine bells out of each other. The intricacies of these chairs, the physicality, the size of the players, players tipping up onto two wheels to try and gain a height advantage, which is an awesome, incredible skill to see.
“You get metal on metal with collisions of chairs going at speed past each other, and certainly a spark flies off. There’s a slight smell of burning, don’t worry!
“You’ll see the guys shooting those threes for the wheelchair basketball and in the running game, and the physicality will be the thing that will surprise you. I’m kind of glad that I’m not playing it now with the injuries that I have because you must be a serious warrior to play 3x3.
“In the half-court game, it’s pure brute force. You need to have the skill to beat people, but there’ll be so much contact. And this is the thing that surprises people, because everyone talks about wheelchair rugby and the contact there, and then when they see wheelchair basketball, they are shocked at the level of contact.
“You’re going to see people driving to the basket, taking a shot, being hit, and seeing guys falling out of chairs who are amputees, who have all sorts of levels of disabilities, taking a hit and not even worrying about the hit.
“The only focus for them will be to try and score the basket. And that’s an incredible amount of concentration and bravery. You haven’t got your arms there to brace yourself, because you are trying to make that shot as someone who is potentially 15 or 16 stone, and 6ft 4in, comes ploughing into you.
“They call wheelchair rugby ‘murder ball’, but we haven’t got a nickname for wheelchair basketball. We’ll come up with one. ‘Blooming heck Basketball’. ‘Oh my days Basketball’!”
Adepitan says new sports like the 3x3 battle will “increase the appeal” of the Commonwealth Games. He added: “The Commonwealth Games has proved it can be agile to move with the times and really differentiate it. It has an opportunity to properly change the way people look at sport. At the Olympics and Paralympics sports are separate. But for youngsters, like my five-year-old son, my daughter’s 18 months old, they’ll be coming to watch the Games and it will be the norm to see Para sports and non-disabled sports together.
“For us growing up, that wasn’t the norm, and the implications that that has on society and the way disabled people are perceived in the future is massive, it’s probably bigger than you and I can even comprehend.”
Three dominant nations, Canada, England and Australia made a clean sweep of the 12 medals, sharing four each, four years ago. The Glasgow 2026 is a competition that has been labelled “unmissable”.
In the men’s running game, Scotland start in session one against Guyana and face Australia in session three at 19.00 on 24 July. England’s schedule includes Singapore, Kenya and Malaysia in action packed sessions which have up to ten games to cheer.
In the women’s running game there’s a cross-border clash between England and Scotland women in session five.
In two rematches of the 3x3 Wheelchair Basketball gold medal games four years ago, Australia and Canada men’s and women’s teams play in session nine. Scotland feature in all four events.
Scotland's three-time Paralympian Robyn Love, a Glasgow 2026 ambassador said: “Scottish fans get behind their teams, but we also love an underdog and the Commonwealth Games is full of them.”
Glasgow 2026 is the largest sporting event in the UK this year, with 3,000 athletes from 74 nations and territories set to compete in 10 sports and six Para sports, in four iconic venues across the city.
The final ticket drop is on sale now. Fans are encouraged not to miss out and get their hands on their tickets today, available at glasgow2026.com/tickets.
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