Nightmare group locked in for Boomers as Olympic Basketball groups confirmed

Posted by Admin July 8, 2024 Basketball

Spain, Greece, Brazil and Puerto Rico have confirmed their qualification for the men’s basketball tournament at the 2024 Olympic Games.

In horror news for the Australian Boomers though, it will be Spain and Greece who have been added to their group which already featured Canada.

In what is a true group of death, all four nations would consider themselves a genuine chance of moving through to the quarter-finals of the tournament, but there will be only room for two.

Greece worked their way through to the Olympics after hosting qualification tournament 3, smashing the Dominican Republic and Greece in their group matches before going past Slovenia and Croatia in the knockouts to book their spot.

Spain meanwhile hosted Tournament 1, with big wins over Lebanon and Angola in the group stage preceeding wins over Finland and the Bahamas – by only eight points – in the finals.

Brazil meanwhile beat hosts of Tournament 2 Latvia by a staggering 25 points in the final to work their way into the Olympics, while Puerto Rico used hosting rights of Tournament 4 to their advantage, beating Lithuania in the final to advance to the final having early got the better of Mexico, Italy and Bahrain.

Australia, who had qualified as the highest-ranked Oceania team for the Olympic tournament, were drawn in a group with two qualifiers, but that has bitten them hard with Greece and Spain joining the group.

The Boomers missed the quarter-finals at the most recent Basketball World Cup, although Spain and Greece were in the same boat. Canada, on the other hand won the bronze medal match against the United States of America in overtime.

On paper, the other groups look far more straightforward than the Boomers’ task in Group A, with play to commence on July 27 in Paris.