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World Championships - Men Basketball
The World Championships Wild Card Race Update Vol. I - Nov 12, 2009 (by Maarouf Mawloud)
The race is on for the last four tickets to Turkey!
How about brining all the country's best players to the ring to let them fight for the tickets?
There is so much speculation going on these days about who will be getting a chance to play in Turkey next year. FIBA is going to make a decision and will be announcing it on December, 13th of this year
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The race is on for the last four tickets to Turkey!
How about brining all the country's best players to the ring to let them fight for the tickets?
There is so much speculation going on these days about who will be getting a chance to play in Turkey next year. FIBA is going to make a decision and will be announcing it on December, 13th of this year. Until then, there is a mass of speculations, so here is a round-up on the latest information and the latest rumors that are circulating around:
Europe:
Lithuania, who is a strong candidate to get one of those wild-cards, openly complained through their president Garastas about the late-registration-fee but is currently talking to some sponsors to cover it. For me, a front-runner in this race for sure.
Germany's Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman would be in, if their country will be granted a pass for Turkey, according to Marc Stein of ESPN. The Germans are eager to see Nowitzki suiting up again, as he is the face of national hoops and should be shifting the media attention back to the sport as soccer is dominating the TV screens over here.
Russia's David Blatt talked to FIBA.com some time ago about the possibility to obtain a wild-card.
Since then, no more updates were seen on whether the East Europeans are going to go for the extra-ticket or not.
Great Britain is also strongly interested developing their national-team program and therefore are also going strong for the last tickets.
Luol Deng would be a lock for Britain if healthy, but their chances are looking slim compared to other countries.
Italy, who has failed to even qualify for the European Championships this year, pulled officially out of the race, according to FIBA Europe. But you never know what's going to happen. A team with Belinelli, Gallinari and Bargnani might be changing Italy's recent path of failure.
There is also some interest coming from Poland, Montenegro, Finland and Israel but I would rate their chances as slim compared to the other countries involved in the process, mostly due to their missing lobby in the basketball world and their recent performances.
Latin America:
The Dominicanos re-vamped their national-team program this year and fielded their best team ever in Puerto Rico at the FIBA Americas Championships. I was able to follow their games, and I must say, that with a stronger point guard and some more camping before a tournament, the team could go against some of the European teams. The question is, if the federation will be able to put up a good presentation as well as the money. Their stars like Al Horford, Francisco Garcia, Charlie Villanueva, Jack Michael Martinez and Luis Flores are capable of playing well internationally and it has to be seen if Trevor Ariza could be cleared to play for the Caribbean country as well by FIBA.
The Uruguayos maybe also counted into the race, even if the y did not go out publicly with the wish to obtain a card yet. Esteban Batista is their main weapon and the way they played the FIBA Americas reminded me of the Argentinos, who had their star in pivot Luis Scola. It has to be seen
Africa:
The Nigerians expressed a strong interest and their president is quiet optimistic, but the Africans might not be getting a second chance according to this article here. The big question is: Who is going to sponsor the 'D'Tigers' quest for Turkey? After talking to one of the national-team players, there is a lot of money in the government, but the interest to spend it on basketball is not high.
I know of Cameroon to be interested but their lack of proper organization (I was apparent, that Cameroon did have problems to prepare under professional circumstances for last year's Olympic qualifiers as well as this year's African Championships) as well as the lack of money and support by the government won't help the ambitious team. Mali and Senegal are two other countries with a strong national-team program who may try their best to get also a free-pass for Turkey. But I doubt that more than one country from Africa will be even getting a closer look this time.
Asia:
Lebanon and its basketball-fans are pushing hard with an online-petition as well as bombarding FIBA with e-mails. The West-Asian basketball powerhouse is in a good position after getting edged by China and Jordan for one of the three open spots for Asia. Players such as Fadi El-Khatib, Matt Freije and Jackson Vroman are providing fire-power for the 'Cedars' and Turkey is not far from Lebanon, so fans should be able to travel to support their country.
East-Asians Korea might be applying as well from what I heard. I would rate their chances not higher then Lebanon's but the country showed some upside in the recent years and might be on the come-up with a solid team that is spearheaded by big Seung-Jin Ha and has even some nice foreign-born talent in Kim-Min-Soo and Daniel Sandrin.
So now that I have given you an overview, I'm hoping to feed you soon with more rumors and tendencies regarding the leading candidates in this battle for the last four spots for Turkey 2010.
I'm out like an additional qualifying tourney...
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14 countries already qualified for 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey - Sep 8, 2009 (by Eurobasket News)
14 participants of the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey are already known. Of course the host of this most important basketball event, Turkey automatically qualified for it and there is also USA Team, which qualified thanks to great performance and Gold medal on the Olympic Games in Beijing last summer.
From Africa, the new-old champion Angola will once again participate on the World Championship
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14 participants of the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey are already known. Of course the host of this most important basketball event, Turkey automatically qualified for it and there is also USA Team, which qualified thanks to great performance and Gold medal on the Olympic Games in Beijing last summer.
From Africa, the new-old champion Angola will once again participate on the World Championship. There will also be the Silver medalist Ivory Coast and third ranked team from the FIBA Africa Championship - Tunisia.
Four best teams from FIBA Americas Championship also booked a ticket for Turkey. It is of course the new champion Brazil and the Silver medalist Puerto Rico. Third ranked Argentina and No.4 Canada will also appear on this event.
From Asia we have 3 teams so far. The new-old champion Iran booked a spot for Turkey and there also will be China (Silver) and Jordan (Bronze). It is already known that Lebanon will apply for a wild-card.
Australia and New Zealand are two more participants of the 2010 FIBA World Championship as they are two best teams from Oceania.
We have EuroBasket 2009 started yesterday and six best teams from this event will also qualify for Turkey.
At the very end, FIBA will decide which 4 teams will get a wild-card for the 2010 FIBA World Championship. There will be 24 teams in total.
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BRA/CAN/PUR/ARG - Title at stake for Brazil, hosts Puerto Rico - Sep 8, 2009 (by Maarouf Mawloud)
SAN JUAN (FIBA Americas Championship) - Brazil will have to pass their toughest test at the FIBA Americas Championship on Sunday if they are to capture the gold medal.
Puerto Rico, who trailed 41-32 at half-time against Argentina in their Semi-Final on Saturday, battled back to win 85-80.
The Puerto Ricans 24 hours earlier had handed Brazil their only defeat in the competition, 86-82
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SAN JUAN (FIBA Americas Championship) - Brazil will have to pass their toughest test at the FIBA Americas Championship on Sunday if they are to capture the gold medal.
Puerto Rico, who trailed 41-32 at half-time against Argentina in their Semi-Final on Saturday, battled back to win 85-80.
The Puerto Ricans 24 hours earlier had handed Brazil their only defeat in the competition, 86-82.
After being Canada 73-65 in their last four clash, leading scorer Leandro Barbosa (22 points) said: 'Now we will rest and prepare for the deciding game against Puerto Rico, which will be a battle.
'They are playing at home, with the support of their fans and motivated by their two recent victories against Brazil and Argentina.'
Brazil only led 28-27 against Canada at the break on Saturday but turned up the defensive pressure in the third quarter and outscored Leo Rautins' team 28-13 to take command.
Canada, who got 17 points from Joel Anthony in the game, battled back in the fourth quarter but came up short.
Brazil's Anderson Varejo had 16 and eight rebounds and he said: 'We are in the final and we will fight for another title.
'The first half was very tight and we couldn't create the tempo we wanted. From the third quarter, we turned up the defense and the team has improved offensively. We opened a good lead and managed the finish.
'Against Puerto Rico, we need to have a strong defense ...'
Canada were full of confidence after their win over the Dominican Republic on Friday to claim the fourth and final spot on offer at the FIBA Americas Championship for next year's big event in Turkey.
'The determining factor for the win today was our mental strength,' Marcelinho Machado (15 pts) said.
'Although we did not have a good first half, we maintained our focus and that helped us have a great third quarter, which ensured our presence in the deciding game the FIBA Americas Championship.'
Luis Scola poured in a game-high 31 points for Argentina in the other Semi-Final while Carlos Arroyo had 19 for Puerto Rico.
Argentina will take on Canada on Sunday in the battle for the bronze medal before Puerto Rico clash with Brazil for the title.
FIBA
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