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octothorp · 01-30-2014, 11:26 PM

Big announcement out of FIBA today: Russia and China withdrew their wildcard bids for the World Championships (joining Italy and Germany, who also withdrew earlier). China was pretty-much an automatic wildcard berth, and I would have ranked Russia ahead of Canada as well in terms of likelihood. Now Brazil is the only sure thing, and Canada is in the mix with Greece, Turkey, Nigeria, Venezuela and Israel (there are other countries including Poland, Finland, Qatar, and Bosnia Herzegovina eligible, but I think all of those are longshots). A couple days ago I would have given Canada about 1-in-6 odds of making it, but now I'd put it more at fifty-fifty.

Results will be announced February 2nd.

EDIT: Reports are now that this may not actually be the case. No official word that either China or Russia have withdrawn. The original report was from El Mundo Deportivo, which is a Spanish sports newspaper, and given that Spain is hosting the tournament, it's not unthinkable that they'd find out something that hasn't been officially announced yet.

01-30-2014, 11:26 PM	#91
octothorp Franchise Player Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: not lurking Exp:	Big announcement out of FIBA today: Russia and China withdrew their wildcard bids for the World Championships (joining Italy and Germany, who also withdrew earlier). China was pretty-much an automatic wildcard berth, and I would have ranked Russia ahead of Canada as well in terms of likelihood. Now Brazil is the only sure thing, and Canada is in the mix with Greece, Turkey, Nigeria, Venezuela and Israel (there are other countries including Poland, Finland, Qatar, and Bosnia Herzegovina eligible, but I think all of those are longshots). A couple days ago I would have given Canada about 1-in-6 odds of making it, but now I'd put it more at fifty-fifty. Results will be announced February 2nd. EDIT: Reports are now that this may not actually be the case. No official word that either China or Russia have withdrawn. The original report was from El Mundo Deportivo, which is a Spanish sports newspaper, and given that Spain is hosting the tournament, it's not unthinkable that they'd find out something that hasn't been officially announced yet. Last edited by octothorp; 01-31-2014 at 12:34 PM.