Bahrain set for Olympic qualifiers draw

TDT | Manama                                                   

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national basketball team will today learn of their opponents in their FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for the Paris Olympics next year.

The Bahrainis are one of 24 leading basketball squads from around the world participating in the qualifying tournaments.

The draw is scheduled to be held today and it will determine the four competitions of six nations apiece.

The winners of each event will qualify for the Paris Olympic Games, where they will join host nation France, and the seven others who booked their berths at this year’s FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, who included Germany, Serbia, Japan, Australia, Canada, the US and South Sudan.

They will form a field of 12 that will be going for gold at the Olympics.

Bahrain are in pot six for the draw along with Egypt, the Bahamas and Cameroon.

Pot one includes Spain, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia. Pot two features Brazil, Italy, Greece and Poland.

Pot three is composed of Puerto Rico, Montenegro, Dominican Republic and Finland.

Pot four features New Zealand, Georgia, Mexico and Lebanon; while pot five includes Croatia, Ivory Coast, Angola and the Philippines.

Each qualifying tournament will be hosted by one of the participating federations.

Bahrain are making their historic first-ever participation in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.

They secured their berth in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments after sweeping their five games in the Asian pre-qualifiers held in Damascus, Syria, last August.