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A32 sports
Diaranson 1 september 2021

US draws Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico for World Cup qualifying

(AP) - USA Basketball will face Colangelo oversaw each of the last cided through qualifying. Indonesia Europe, with four-team groups as-
Puerto Rico, Mexico and Cuba in four Olympics for the U.S., helping does not get an automatic spot as a sembled for the first round. But the
the first round of qualifying for assemble teams that won gold medals host country. field is double the size of other re-
the 2023 Basketball World Cup. each time. gions, with 32 teams playing for what
AMERICAS REGION will become 12 World Cup spots.
The Americans, who won a fourth The U.S. has won the World Cup
consecutive Olympic gold medal in five times, most recently in 2014. The region has 16 teams in quali- As in the other regions, the top three
Tokyo but finished only seventh at fying, in four different four-team finishers in each first-round group
the most recent Basketball World There are 80 teams in the qualify- first-round groups, with 12 of those will advance to the second round,
Cup two years ago, found out their ing rounds. It begins with a double nations making the second round. which in Europe’s case will trim the
qualifying opponents Tuesday when round-robin; all teams in the vari- From there, the field will be pared to 32 teams down to 24. Those 24 na-
the draw was held at FIBA headquar- ous groups for the first round will the seven World Cup qualifiers; the tions will be placed in one of four six-
ters in Mies, Switzerland. play the other three teams in their first-, second- and third-place finish- team second-round groups, and the
group twice. First-round games will er in both second-round groups will top three finishers in each of those
It will also be the first major tourna- be played during three different win- make the World Cup, along with the groups will make the World Cup.
ment for USA Basketball with Grant dows — Nov. 20-30, Feb. 21-March best fourth-place team.
Hill as managing director. Hill is suc- 1 and June 27-July 5. In Group A, Serbia, Latvia, Belgium
ceeding Jerry Colangelo in that role; In Group A, Argentina — which, and Slovakia will play. Group B has
Second-round games begin in Au- barring a change of his mind, will be Greece, Turkey, Britain and Belarus.
gust 2022 and run through February without Luis Scola for a major inter- Group C has Olympic semifinalist
2023. The next World Cup — to be national tournament for the first time Slovenia along with Croatia, Finland,
hosted by the Philippines, Japan and in more than two decades — faces Sweden. In Group D, it’ll be Germa-
Indonesia — takes place from Aug. 25 Venezuela, Panama and Paraguay in ny, Poland, Israel and Estonia.
through Sept. 10, 2023. the first round.
Group E is led by Olympic silver
Defending World Cup champion Group B includes Brazil, Uruguay, medalist France, which will meet
Spain, trying to become one of the Colombia and Chile. Group C has Montenegro, Hungary and Portu-
12 European qualifiers for the tour- Canada, the Dominican Republic, gal. Group F has Lithuania, Czech
nament, opens with games against the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Baha- Republic, Bulgaria and Bosnia-Her-
Ukraine, Georgia and North Mace- mas. And in Group D, it’s the U.S., zegovina. Group G is the Spain-
donia in the opening round. Puerto Rico, Mexico and Cuba. Ukraine-Georgia-North Macedonia
group, and Group H will see Italy,
As hosts, the Philippines and Japan EUROPE REGION Russia, the Netherlands and Iceland
are already in the 32-team World Cup facing off.
field. The other 30 spots will be de- The same qualifying rules apply in