Greece’s Olympic dream at risk as FIBA mulls fate of OQT
While it remains to be seen just how much of an impact the coronavirus pandemic will have on the Olympics, Greece’s hopes of qualifying for the final tournament are definitely at risk.
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Although the International Olympic Committee (IOC) continues to insist that the Tokyo Games will go ahead as scheduled, numerous events at this summer’s Games could look very different than originally planned.
One of those events guaranteed to be impacted is the men’s basketball tournament after FIBA announced that Friday’s draw for the Olympic tournament has been cancelled.
The announcement made by FIBA did not outline a new date for the draw, particularly since FIBA has yet to make a decision on whether or not the format for the competition will go ahead as planned.
Regardless of what the IOC decides, FIBA’s decision will depend heavily on what happens with the remainder of the NBA season. The decision to suspend the NBA season last week has put the possibility of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament at serious risk.
Greece are scheduled to compete for an Olympic berth in Victoria against the likes of hosts Canada, China, Czech Republic, Turkey, and Uruguay, in one of four qualifying tournaments scheduled to tip-off on 23 June.
The tournaments were scheduled to tip-off just days after the end of the NBA Finals, and with the NBA season expected to be suspended for a minimum eight weeks it appears to be more and more unlikely that FIBA will be able to go ahead with the qualifying tournaments.
In addition to Olympic hosts Japan, seven other teams have already clinched a berth at the Tokyo Games based on the final rankings of last summer’s FIBA World Cup in China. Among those already qualified are Spain, Argentina, France, Australia, the United States, Nigeria, and Iran.
WORLD CUP TO MAP OUT OLYMPIC TOURNAMENT?
According to reliable sources, one of the options on the table for FIBA would be to scrap the qualifying tournaments altogether and instead distribute the four remaining spots at the final tournament to the best-ranked sides from the World Cup that have yet to qualify. In that case, the four spots up for grabs at the tournament would go to the likes of Serbia (5th), Czech Republic (6th), Poland (8th), and Lithuania (9th). Greece, who finished in eleventh at last summer’s World Cup, would miss out on the final tournament in this scenario – meaning the Ethniki would miss out on the Olympics for the third consecutive time after back-to-back qualifications in 2004 and 2008.
WORLD RANKING ROUTE FOR GREECE?
Another option reportedly on the table for FIBA is that the governing body will use the FIBA World Rankings to confirm the final four qualifiers. In this scenario, Greece would progress to the final tournament thanks to the Ethniki’s seventh-overall ranking with the likes of Serbia (5th), Lithuania (8th), and Czech Republic (9th) also qualifying.
It remains to be seen what option FIBA will use to round out the field, though it seems more and more likely FIBA will need to navigate away from their original plans for Tokyo 2020.
