Decision on Olympic Qualifying Tournament hosts postponed to January

MANILA, Philippines – FIBA has announced that the reveal of the 3 hosts for the 2016 Olympic Qualifying Tournaments has been moved to January 11, 2016, according to a press release sent by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) on Thursday, November 12.

Per the press release, the FIBA Executive Committee cited “technical reasons” as the root for the delay and provided no more specific details.

“[We] will not be able to make a decision on the Hosts of the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments on 23 November as previously communicated,” FIBA said via the SBP’s press release.

The news was sent to the 10 countries bidding for hosting rights: Philippines, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Iran, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Serbia, and Turkey.

The 3 OQTs tournaments will take place early in July, with the winners of each tournament earning the 3 remaining spots for the men’s basketball tournament of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

According to the SBP, they have already sent all the bidding requirements to FIBA’s Geneva headquarters on the appointed November 11 deadline.

With the reveal of hosts being moved, the same is the case for the OQT Draw Ceremony that will now take place on January 26, 2016, rather than November 24, 2015.

FIBA has also said that the deadline for bidders “to provide the bank guarantees” has been moved to January 11.

Per the SBP, the bids will be evaluated by the end of the year. FIBA will get in touch with the winning countries and organizing visits, if necessary. – Rappler.com