Philippines drawn with France, Canada, Turkey for 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifier

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines will be competing against France, Canada, Turkey, Senegal, and New Zealand at the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament as determined by the draw held on Wednesday, January 27 (Tuesday, January 26 in Switzerland).

The tournament will take place from July 4 to 10 with Manila serving as host to one of the 3 simultaneous competitions. (WATCH: 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament draw)

The Philippines, ranked 28 in the world by FIBA, will be up against heavyweight competition with the world’s 5th ranked team France as the most daunting foe. They are also grouped with an 8th ranked Turkey, a 21st ranked New Zealand, and a 26th ranked Canada – all higher in ranking than the Philippines.

Senegal, ranked 31, is the only team lower in ranking than the Philippines. They’ll have a chance to avenge their 2014 World Cup loss on Philippine soil.

Aside from Manila, Belgrade in Serbia and Turin in Italy will host the two other tournaments with 6 teams each. The winner from each tournament will qualify for the men’s basketball tournament at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro this August.

The 6 teams will be split into two brackets of 3 each. Groupmates play each other once in the preliminaries and the top two placers advance to the knockout semifinals with the survivors disputing the ticket to Rio.

The preliminary games will be held on July 5, 6, and 7. There will be a break on July 8, then the two semifinal games will be played on July 9. The final will be on July 10.

The Philippines will be represented by national men’s basketball team Gilas Pilipinas, who settled for silver in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship and lost the chance for an automatic berth. Gilas is eyeing its first Olympic basketball appearance since 1972.

View the full results below:

Here are the draw results for the women’s tournament happening from June 13 to 19 in France.

– Rappler.com