With the official FIBA draws for the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments taking place this morning, the Canadian Senior Men’s National Team has learned that it will compete against a Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Greece and China in Group A in the tournament that will also see Uruguay, Czech Republic, and Turkey in Group B.
Three other qualifying tournaments will take place with the winner from each of the four tournaments advancing to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The qualifiers will take place July 23-28, 2020, with Canada playing on home soil in Victoria, B.C.
The team, which will be coached by Nick Nurse, has gained momentum in the past couple of days with verbal commitments from Jamal Murray, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and RJ Barrett.
Eight teams have already qualified for the Olympics, including Argentina, Australia, France, Iran, Japan (hosts), Nigeria, Spain, and the United States.
The four qualifying tournaments include the following 24 teams:
Belgrade, Serbia
Group A – Dominican Republic, New Zealand, Serbia
Group B – Puerto Rico, Italy, Senegal
Kaunas, Lithuania
Group A – Lithuania, Korea, Venezuela
Group B – Poland, Slovenia, Angola
Split, Croatia
Group A – Germany, Russia, Mexico
Group B – Tunisia, Croatia, Brazil
Victoria, Canada
Group A – Greece, China, Canada
Group B – Uruguay, Czech Republic, Turkey
The Canadian Senior Women’s National Team drew Japan, Sweden, and Belgium for the qualifying tournament that will take place in Belgium during February 6-9, 2020. Three teams from each of the four-team pools will advance to the Olympics with Japan (hosts) automatically qualifying as well.
The team recently finished second at the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup in a pre-qualifying tournament in September with a strong outing in group play (4-0) but ultimately losing to Team USA in the finals.
The four pools for the Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments are as follows:
Belgrade, Serbia
Nigeria, USA, Serbia, Mozambique
Bourges, France
France, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Australia
Foshan, China
Korea, China, Great Britain, Spain
Ostend, Belgium
Canada, Japan, Sweden, Belgium
