World-class talents like Andrew Wiggins, Rudy Gobert, Tristan Thompson, Nik Stauskas, Boris Diaw, Tony Parker, Kelly Olynyk, Gorgui Dieng, and Evan Fournier, among others, may all be headed to Manila this summer.
That is after the FIBA held its draw for the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments Tuesday night at the House of Basketball in Geneva, Switzerland.
Gilas Pilipinas was drawn in Group B of the Manila OQTs, and shall battle 2013 FIBA EuroBasket winners France and New Zealand. Also playing in Manila are Canada, 2010 FIBA World Championship runner-up Turkey, and Senegal in Group A.
France fell short in the 2015 EuroBasket after losing to eventual titlist Spain in the semi-final. Canada suffered the same fate when they dropped a heart-breaking 79-78 semi-final loss to eventual gold-medal winner Venezuela in the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship.
New Zealand failed to qualify for the Olympics outright after losing the 2015 FIBA Oceania series to Australia. Senegal lost in the semi-final of the 2015 AfroBasket to Nigeria. Turkey qualified in the OQT as an invitee.
Below are the complete brackets of each of the three OQTs. Only one nation per OQT shall advance to the 2016 Rio de Janiero Olympics.
Manila, Philippines
Group A
Canada
Senegal
Turkey
Group B
PHILIPPINES
France
New Zealand
Turin, Italy
Group A
Greece
Iran
Mexico
Group B
Italy
Tunisia
Croatia
Belgrade, Serbia
Group A
Serbia
Angola
Puerto Rico
Group B
Czech Republic
Japan
Latvia
The tournaments shall run from July 5 to 11.
