Draws take place for Olympic qualifiers

IF Giannis Antetokounmpo is going to compete in the Olympics next summer, Greece will have to win a few games in Canada first.

The draws to see which countries will grab the remaining basketball berths at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — four men’s spots and 10 women’s spots in the 12-team fields — were held yesterday in Switzerland, and a Greece-Canada matchup in one of those tournaments is guaranteed in the early stages of the event next June.

And there’s a chance that the turnaround for some players and coaches could be incredibly quick. The men’s qualifiers start on June 23, just two days after a possible Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

Canada drew Greece as one of the five teams, including China which is in Group A with the former two, coming into Victoria, British Columbia, next summer — so there will be some player and coaching star power. Greece will be coached by Rick Pitino, Canada is being coached by Nick Nurse of the defending NBA champions Toronto Raptors.

It’s unclear if Antetokounmpo intends to play in the qualifiers. His Milwaukee Bucks are one of the top teams in the National Basketball Association, with a good chance of reaching the NBA Finals.

Canada, Serbia, Lithuania and Croatia are the host sites for the men’s qualifiers. There are six teams in each, split into a pair of three-team groups at each site. Teams in the same group will play each other once to determine two semifinalists from each side. Those four teams will play a single-elimination tournament to decide the winner, and each of the four winners will get an Olympic berth.

The women’s qualifiers to be held in France, Serbia, China and Belgium are not as daunting as the men’s events.

There are 16 teams playing, with two — the US, as World Cup winner, and Japan, as the host nation — already having earned berths into the Olympics. That leaves 14 teams playing for the final 10 spots.

There are eight men’s teams already in the Olympics: Japan, along with Nigeria, Argentina, the US, Iran, France, Spain and Australia.

(AP)