By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
FIBA announced the dates for the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments that will determine the teams that will compete in the postponed Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Per FIBA:
After discussions with the International Olympic Committee, FIBA has confirmed that the rescheduled men’s FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments will be played from June 29 to July 4, 2021.
FIBA has been involved in a consultation process with the IOC regarding these four tournaments, in which the players’ workload, the national team preparations and the national league calendars were all considered. The IOC has exceptionally approved these dates due to these factors and also the extraordinary circumstances that have occurred with the rescheduling of the Tokyo Olympic Games.
FIBA President Hamane Niang and Secretary General Andreas Zagklis have expressed their thanks to the IOC President Thomas Bach and the IOC Executive Board.
The four FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments are to be played in Canada, Croatia, Lithuania and Serbia, with the National Federations being awarded the hosting rights in 2019 by FIBA’s Executive Committee.
In total, 24 men’s national teams are set to compete in these four qualifying tournaments of six teams each, with seven teams already qualified directly for the Olympics from the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019, along with Japan as hosts.
The draw for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments was confirmed during a ceremony at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball, FIBA headquarters in late November 2019. The draw results can be found here.
The winners of the four tournaments will qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games, now taking place from July 23 to August 8, 2021.
The competition schedule for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments will be updated accordingly.