FIBA OQT: The Road to Tokyo goes through Victoria for Greece
Following last week’s draw for the 2020 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, AGONAsport takes an early look at the teams standing in Greece’s way on the road to Tokyo 2020.
Watch LIVE GREEK TV including full GREEK SPORTS coverage with Go Greek TV!
After failing to clinch a berth at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo via last summer’s FIBA World Cup, Greece’s path to the Olympics will go through Canada last week’s draw for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament revealed.
Among the top seeds in the draw, Greece were expected to be paired with either Croatia or Canada after it was revealed that Zagreb and Victoria were confirmed as hosts alongside Kaunas, Lithuania and Belgrade, Serbia.
Ultimately, Greece were paired with China and Canada in Group A of the Victoria tournament while Uruguay, Turkey, and the Czech Republic are slotted in Group B.
CANADA
Greece’s qualifying campaign will get underway against the hosts on 23 June. While Greece are hoping to end a 12-year drought of missing the Olympics, Canada last qualified in 2000 but there are high hopes this version of Team Canada can end the drought.
Canada’s World Cup campaign ended in disappointment after failing to get out of tricky group that included Lithuania and Australia, but the main headline was the amount of NBA players opting not to wear the Canadian jersey in China last summer. A boost for the Canadians this time around is that already several players based in the NBA have declared they will play for Canada if called upon next summer, including New York Knicks rookie RJ Barrett.
Coached by NBA Champion head coach Nick Nurse, whose take on defending continues to work wonders with the Toronto Raptors, makes Canada one of the favourites to stymie Greece’s push for the Olympics.
CHINA
Home court advantage didn’t serve China well last summer as the Chinese crashed out of the group stage of the World Cup before being pipped by Iran for the lone direct qualification for Asia. Named to the field by FIBA, China will look to boost the Asian representation at next summer’s Olympics. Having qualified for nine-straight Olympics, China’s streak could finally come to an end next summer.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Led by point guard Tomas Satoransky, Czech basketball is experiencing its best success since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993. Only narrowly managing to edge out Greece in the second group phase at the World Cup, the Czechs ultimately finished sixth in China and were widely seen as the true dark horse of the tournament. The Czechs won’t have the unknown element at their benefit in Victoria, but the same determination they showed in China could go a long way in helping the Czechs reach their first Olympics since the dissolution of Czechslovakia.
TURKEY
Turkey almost made headlines in China when they narrowly defeated the United States in the group stage. That overtime defeat to the United States came with a cost as Turkey crashed out of the group stage with a loss to the Czech Republic on the final day of group play. The disappointment of the loss in China will certainly motivate the Turks to punch their ticket to the Tokyo via the Victoria tournament though they’ll have to do what they couldn’t do last summer to reach the Olympics for the first time since 1952.
URUGUAY
Uruguay were one of the teams named to the qualifying field by FIBA after missing out on last summer’s World Cup. While the South American side are outsiders to progress past the group stage, they will travel to Canada next June hoping to book a return to the Olympics for the first time since 1984.
