TEHRAN (Iran News) – The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Basketball Tournaments draw for both the Men and the Women finalists was held behind closed doors Tuesday at FIBA headquarters, the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball.
The eight national teams plus four slots reserved for the national teams clinching a spot in the Men’s Tournament through the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments were split into the three preliminary groups of four teams each.
The four remaining tickets will be punched in through the four Olympic Qualifying groups planned to be held from June 29 to July 4.
In both tournaments, a new competition system has been put in place for Tokyo. The Group Phase will consist of three groups of four teams each. The teams placed first and second in each group, and the two best third-placed teams in the Group Phase qualify for the Final Phase.
Twenty-four top teams from across the globe, 12 men and 12 women, will go for gold at the Olympics, starting July 25 in Tokyo.
Men’s Tournament draw results:
Group A
Iran
France
USA
OQT Victoria winner (Canada, China, Czech Republic, Greece, Turkey, Uruguay)
Group B
Australia
OQT Split winner (Brazil, Croatia, Germany, Mexico, Russia, Tunisia)
OQT Belgrade winner (Dominican Republic, Italy, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Senegal, Serbia)
Nigeria
Group C
Argentina
Japan
Spain
OQT Kaunas winner (Angola, Korea, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Venezuela)
Previously, Iran national basketball team defeated Saudi Arabia 71-64 at Window 2 of FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers on Saturday. After successfully holding the games of the Qualifiers in bubbles in November, the third and last window will also be organized as protected environment tournaments in order to ensure the health and safety of all participants.
All remaining games of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers will take place during this final window from February 18-22, 2021, fiba.basketball reported.
The locations approved are as follows:
The bubbles will be hosted in these respective cities: Clark (Philippines), Tokyo (Japan), Manama (Bahrain), and Doha (Qatar).
The most important criteria in choosing the hosts, like for the previous window, was health and travel guarantees and compliance with FIBA health protocols, including testing and controlled entry into a secure environment.
The exact schedule of games will be confirmed at a later stage.
Iran sit top of Group E with seven points, followed by Syria (six points), Saud Arabia (six points) and Qatar (five points).
There are 24 teams competing in the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers. Once the three windows of the Qualifiers conclude, the top two teams in each group will qualify directly to Asia Cup 2021. The six last-placed teams in each group are eliminated.
Meanwhile, the six third-placed teams in each group will then play in a separate qualifying tournament. Teams will be placed into two different groups of three teams. The top two teams of those respective groups will then lock in their spots at Asia Cup 2021, completing the 16-team roster who will also compete in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers.
- source : Tehran Times
