Dallas’ Luka Doncic, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns all nonetheless have an opportunity to play in subsequent summer season’s Paris Olympics.
But not less than two of these stars received’t get there.
FIBA held the Olympic qualifying event attracts for the ultimate 4 spots left within the Paris Games discipline on Monday – with Slovenia, Greece and the Dominican Republic all getting slotted into the identical occasion. That means, at most, solely a kind of nations will make it to the Olympics.
Doncic has been Slovenia’s greatest participant for years, Antetokounmpo is one of the best participant for Greece and Towns led the Dominican Republic to a robust exhibiting on the World Cup this previous summer season.
“These tournaments are something else,” FIBA secretary normal Andreas Zagklis mentioned. “They are six-team tournaments, every game counts, you have 12 of the top 20 teams in the world playing there. Each game could be a quarterfinal of the World Cup or a quarterfinal of the Olympics.”
There are eight groups already with berths for the 12-team Olympic males’s discipline. France certified because the host nation, and 7 different groups – the four-time defending gold medalist U.S., World Cup champion Germany, Canada, Japan, South Sudan, Serbia and Australia – certified primarily based on their finishes at this previous summer season’s World Cup within the Philippines.
The format for the qualifying occasions is easy: 4 tournaments, to be hosted by Spain, Greece, Latvia and Puerto Rico over July 2-7, 2024. There are six groups in every event, and it’s winner-take-all – every occasion sending one crew to the Paris Games.
The 4 host websites had been chosen by FIBA earlier Monday, earlier than the draw was held.
In the qualifying tournaments, every crew performs two video games towards its personal group, and the highest two groups in every group transfer right into a semifinal. First-place groups from Group A would play second-place groups from Group B, and vice-versa, at every website. Those semifinal winners will meet to resolve the Olympic spot.
A have a look at the qualifying fields, damaged down by website and with world rating in parentheses:
Group A: Slovenia (11), New Zealand (21), Croatia (30).
Group B: Egypt (41), Greece (14), Dominican Republic (18).
Group A: Lebanon (28), Angola (34), Spain (2).
Group B: Finland (20), Poland (15), Bahamas (57).
Group A: Georgia (23), Philippines (38), Latvia (8).
Group B: Brazil (12), Cameroon (67), Montenegro (17).
Group A: Mexico (25), Ivory Coast (33), Lithuania (10).
Group B: Italy (13), Puerto Rico (16), Bahrain (69).
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
