Canada's basketball teams set for Paris Olympics, group foes revealed

MIES, Switzerland — The groups have been set for the men's and women's basketball tournaments at the Paris Olympics this summer.

The draw was held in Mies, Switzerland, with former Australian women's star Penny Taylor and former NBA superstar and American Carmelo Anthony presenting the groups on Tuesday.

Canada's seventh-ranked men's team will be in Group A alongside fifth-ranked Australia, the winner of the Olympic qualifying tournament in Spain and the winner of the Olympic qualifying tournament in Greece.

In Greece, it will be Croatia, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Greece, New Zealand and Slovenia vying for a spot. In Spain, the teams will be Angola, Bahamas, Finland, Lebanon, Poland and Spain.

It's the first Olympic appearance for Canada since 2000. The Canadian men qualified for the Olympics after a quarterfinal victory over Spain at the World Cup in September.

Canada went on to win its first-ever medal with bronze at the tournament, defeating the U.S. 127-118 in the third-place game in Manila.

Group B will have France, Germany, Japan and the winner of the Olympic qualifying tournament in Latvia. The teams looking to leave Latvia with an Olympic berth are Brazil, Cameroon, Georgia, Latvia, Montenegro and the Philippines.

Group C boasts Serbia, South Sudan, the winner of the Olympic qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico and the defending Olympic champion the U.S. The teams set to play in Puerto Rico are Bahrain, Ivory Coast, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

All four Olympic qualifying tournaments will be held from July 2-7.

The men's Olympic tournament is scheduled to run from July 27 to Aug. 10.

The fifth-ranked Canadian women's team is in Group B next to third-ranked Australia, host and seventh-ranked France and 12th-ranked Nigeria.

Group A is made up of Serbia, Spain, China and Puerto Rico. Group C consists of Germany, the defending Olympic champion U.S., Japan and Belgium.

The women's field is set as all four Olympic qualifying tournaments were played in February, with Canada having qualified from one in Hungary. Canada went 1-2 in the four-team event but received a helping hand when Spain defeated Hungary in the final game of the competition.

The women's Olympic tournament is scheduled to run from July 28 to Aug. 11.

The group phases for both tournaments will be played in Lille, France.

The top two teams from each group and the two best third-place teams qualify for the final phase, which will be held in Paris.

There will be a draw following the group phase to determine quarterfinal pairings, with the final phase to be played in knockout format.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 19, 2024.