In Manila, Canada will play in Group A against 31st-ranked, Senegal and 8th-ranked Turkey.
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The men’s senior team will face Senegal and Turkey in the preliminary round with the host Philippines, France and New Zealand comprising the other group in the tournament, which runs from July 4th to 10th.
Under the competition format announced by Fiba, Gilas will draw a bye in Day One which will be July 5 when France and New Zealand face off before the Filipinos make their debut against New Zealand on July 6 before battling France on July 7.
The top two teams in each group advance to semifinals, and the victor of the tournament earns a berth in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Then Canada blew a seven-point lead with three minutes to go against Venezuela, losing on a free throw with less than a second to go.
It was quite possibly the most crushing defeat in the history of the men’s program as it appeared the young wave of talent that represents Canada’s so-called “golden generation” were going to get their Olympic program going.
They said that they will try to assemble the best team possible to give the country a good shot at qualifying. “This tournament will give us another opportunity to show what we’re capable of and provide meaningful global experience for our team”. Canada won the round robin, but in the must-win semi-final against Venezuela – a team Canada had defeated earlier in the tournament – the Canadians squandered a late-game lead and lost by one point.
It follows the country’s suspension having been lifted by thFIBA’s Executive Committee, as revealed by insidethegames last week, allowing their team to compete at the qualifying event in July. For the first time in FIBA history, we witnessed the wave.
A sizable number of National Basketball Association (NBA) players are playing for those countries. There will be a break on the 8th before the two semifinals games on July 9. Among those likely to be affected are Dwight Powell of the Dallas Mavericks, Andrew Nicholson of the Orlando Magic and Anthony Bennett of the Toronto Raptors.
Additionally, Tristan Thompson (Cleveland Cavaliers), Joel Anthony (Detroit Pistons), and Tyler Ennis (Milwaukee Bucks) are also eligible to play for Canada.
Olynyk, for one, sounds like he can’t wait to get it rolling.
Group B: 1. France; 2.
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“We have a pretty close-knit group now”.
