The OFFICIAL FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men in Athens Thread

[TyThomas]

Beijing is ready, but there are still 3 teams that will have a chance to qualify for the Olympic Basketball tournaments in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men in Athens.

The following nine teams have already booked their tickets for the Olympic Basketball Tournament for Men that will take place in Beijing, China, from 9th to 24th August 2008: Angola, Argentina, Australia, China, Iran, Lithuania, Russia, Spain and USA.

The remaining three men's berths for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will be decided in the 12-team FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament amongst the following teams: Brazil, Cape Verde, Canada, Cameroon, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Korea, Lebanon, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and Slovenia.

Some of the biggest stars of the game will compete in Athens like Dirk Nowitzki from Germany, Leandro Barbosa from Brazil, Theo Papaloukas from Greece, Carlos Arroyo from Puerto Rico and Jaka Lakovic from Slovenia. And all of them know that it will be an incredible difficult task to gain one of the remaining three tickets to Beijing.

Lakovic: "For every athlete in every sport, it is the biggest to play in the Olympics and enjoying the Olympic spirit. In the Olympics, there are 12 teams playing for the title. And I think playing in the Olympics would be much easier than playing in the EuroBasket, where you have many good teams. In the Olympics, you have good teams. But maybe six, so you can fight though the rest."

The FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men will be played from 14th to 20th July in order to ensure the highest possible standard and to allow the participating teams to enjoy a longer preparation phase and count with the presence of their best players.

Here are some reactions from players and coaches after the draw:

Marko Popovic (Croatia): "Every game will be very important, because every game could be decisive. We will do everything to make it to the Olympic Games. It's a good thing we can not meet Greece in the quarter-finals, while I also hope that we will avoid Slovenia there."

Rasho Nesterovic (Player Slovenia): "We shouldn't talk about possible opponents in the quarter-finals before we actually get there. All in all, I am confident that we have the will, motivation and quality to reach our aim - qualifying for Beijing."

Rodrigo Mascarenhas (Player Cape Verde): "Germany is the strongest team of the group. They are led by a fabulous player Dirk Nowitzki. It will not be easy for us. I followed the draw with some national team-mates here in Luanda (Angola). We will have the chance to measure our potential against high-class players."

Moncho Monsalve (Coach Brazil Men's team): "For us, it's a tremendous challenge to finish first of our group ahead of Greece, who are hosting the tournament. Greece needs no introduction. But I am happy with our group. I think the real test will be against Group B, with Germany and New Zealand as the likely teams we will meet in the next round if we finish in the top two spots of our group."

Nenad Vucnic (Coach New Zealand): "The tournament is full of very strong teams and others that are not so fancied, but are in the same position we were six or seven years ago ... pushing to make it to top competitions."

http://www.athens2008.fiba.com/

That's how the groups thing will work out, you can also see the games in there.

1. Composition of groups:

Group A: Brazil, Greece and Lebanon

Group B: Cape Verde, Germany and New Zealand

Group C: Canada, Korea and Slovenia

Group D: Cameroon, Croatia and Puerto Rico


2. Preliminary Round:

14th July 2008:

Game A1: Greece vs. Lebanon
Game B1: New Zealand vs. Cape Verde
Game C1: Korea vs. Slovenia
Game D1: Croatia vs. Cameroon

15th July 2008:

Game A2: Lebanon vs. Brazil
Game B2: Cape Verde vs. Germany
Game C2: Slovenia vs. Canada
Game D2: Cameroon vs. Puerto Rico

16th July 2008:

Game A3: Brazil vs. Greece
Game B3: Germany vs. New Zealand
Game C3: Canada vs. Korea
Game D3: Puerto Rico vs. Croatia

The teams placed 1st and 2nd in each group will advance to the Quarter-Finals; the teams placed 3rd in each group will be eliminated and may return home. The games of the Preliminary Round and the Quarter-Finals will be played at 13:00 hours, 15:30 hours, 19:30 hours and 22:00 hours. The exact order of games will be fixed in March.

17th July 2008: Rest Day

3. Quarter-Finals:

18th July 2008:

Game 13: A1 vs. B2
Game 14: B1 vs. A2
Game 15: C1 vs. D2
Game 16: D1 vs. C2

The games of the Quarter-Finals will be played at 13:00 hours, 15:30 hours, 19:30 hours and 22:00 hours.

4. Semi-Finals:

19th July 2008:

Game 17: Winner 13 vs. Winner 15
Game 18: Winner 14 vs. Winner 16

The two winners of the Semi-Finals will qualify for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The two losers will play in the Finals the game for the 3rd place (Game 19 below) for one remaining Olympic spot. The Semi-Final games will be played at 19:00 hours and 21:30 hours.


5. Finals:

20th July 2008:

Game 19 (20:00 hours): Loser 17 vs. Loser 18

The winner will qualify for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

That are the groups. For me the team that will definitley make it to the Olypmic games is Greece. Then one team who is also very good and for me underrated is Puerto Rico.

What are your guys opinions on this tournament?

[Ferdi]

We got a easy group, and with Kaman i think we'll advance along Greece and Slovenia.

[BalkanBaller]

How good is Puerto Rico ?

[Luichi]

Puerto Rico is pretty good at the guard spots with Carlos Arroyo and the other guy I forgot his name.

New Zealands gonna have a hard time getting through. Even if they make it to the quarter finals (which im sure they will do) they will be up against either Brazil or Greece (hopefully Brazil).

[TyThomas]

The other guard of Puerto Rico is J.J. Barea of the Dallas Mavericks.

[enetblazin4eva]

Canada gots this............. easy birth into the Olympics.


Sike.

[TyThomas]

Is Ransford Brempong playing for Canada? And what about Nash?

[ciggas]

how did iran get through we beat them by 50 3 times with half our team out and aussies were like 10th in the world and germany didnt make it.....

[KD21]

This will be awesome to watch.
I say Puerto Rico and Greece in the final ad germany will beat slovenia in the game for the last spot

i think cameroon is kind of underrated

[Crippa]

Greece should easily make it, it's not much of a competition really, although teams are emerging as suprises I still think that Greece will definately be going all the way.