- Team USA favourites to retain their title despite suffering first loss for 13 years in warm-up with Australia
- Iran and Gilas Pilipinas tipped to be best Asian nations in the first 32-team World Cup
The Fiba Basketball World Cup begins on August 31 with 32 teams attempting to stake their claim as the best team on the planet.
China is the host for this year's tournament, which is the biggest yet " up from 24 teams in Spain in 2014. Eight games take place on the opening day, starting with Angola vs Serbia to begin the 92-game tournament.
The hosts will also be in action on the first day. They take on Ivory Coast after Poland vs Venezuela tips off the action at the Cadillac Arena in Beijing, where the final will be held on September 15.
Seven other cities will also stage group games, with Nanjing, Wuhan, Shanghai, Dongguan, Foshan, Shenzhen and Guangzhou hosting one group apiece.
The top two teams in each group move on to the second round " another group stage " with the top two advancing to the knockout stage. The bottom two teams from the initial groups move on to the classification round.
Tickets are still available for many games if you fancy seeing it all unfold in the flesh, otherwise you can see it all on-screen.
Patty Mills dropped 30 and Australia BEAT TEAM USA (via @FIBA) pic.twitter.com/50nIKfvmTp
" Overtime (@overtime) August 24, 2019
Fans in China can catch all the action on CCTV 5, but there is no official broadcast partner in Hong Kong. However, Fiba's streaming site, Livebasketball.tv, is US$7.99 per month and includes all games in HD and with English commentary.
The USA might be missing the biggest names in the NBA, but they undoubtedly have the most star-studded squad. That's no guarantee of gold " they finished sixth in the 2002 world championships and only took bronze at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
Nonetheless, Team USA are the reigning champions and they go into the tournament as favourites, despite losing their first game for 13 years in a warm-up against Australia.
The #Antetokounbros are already putting up windmills in ! #HellasGotGame #FIBAWC@HellenicBF @Bucks pic.twitter.com/LJfIbzyD6a
" Basketball World Cup (@FIBAWC) August 24, 2019
The odds reflect that with the US team at $1.42 and runners-up four years ago Serbia behind them at $4.5. Greece, led by reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, are third favourites back at $13, just ahead of Spain at $15. Australia, fresh off beating the US are an outside bet at $34.
Iran are the favourites to finish as the top Asian team at $2.8 ahead of the Gilas Pilipinas who are $5.8.
Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
