USA leads, Czech Republic makes leap to 4th place

GENEVA/KARLOVY VARY (FIBA World Championship for Women)-Following the conclusion of the FIBA World Championship for Women, FIBA released the new rankings for women's national teams.

Gold medal winners USA defended their first position and even extended their lead to comfortable 940 points.

Silver medal winner the Czech Republic made a leap to fourth position after their surprise runners-up place at the World Championship.

Russia, who had finished runners-up at the previous World Championships, maintained second place in the rankings despite finishing seventh while 2006 gold medalists Australia have stayed in third.

Here is the top 20 of the new FIBA World Rankings for Women:

Rank IOC Score Country Name
1 USA 940.00 United States of America
2 RUS 780.00 Russia
3 AUS 745.00 Australia
4 CZE 513.00 Czech Republic
5 ESP 500.00 Spain
6 BRA 416.00 Brazil
7 FRA 274.00 France
8 CHN 252.00 People's Republic of China
9 KOR 232.00 Korea
10 CUB 188.00 Cuba
11 BLR 185.00 Belarus
12 CAN 175.20 Canada
13 ARG 156.20 Argentina
14 GRE 148.00 Greece
15 JPN 136.50 Japan
16 NZL 120.00 New Zealand
17 LTU 115.00 Lithuania
18 MLI 90.60 Mali
19 LAT 90.00 Latvia
20 SEN 87.00 Senegal

FIBA launched its new ranking system after the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Men in Turkey.
For the first time ever, the U19 and U17 FIBA World Championships for Boys and Girls as well as all U16 and U18 continental championships weigh in to determine the new FIBA categories for Boys and Girls.

Therefore the new FIBA ranking now includes five categories: Men, Women, Boys, Girls and a Combined Ranking that takes into account results from all genders and all age categories. The new system makes for a more accurate pecking order of the world's basketball nations.

About the FIBA Rankings
The rankings are calculated within the scope of a two Olympic Games cycle (including qualifying competitions at FIBA Zone level) and take into consideration all World Championships, Olympic Games and Continental Championships events.

Whenever a new championship is played, the oldest championship of that category drops out. The FIBA Ranking is then recalculated.

For the complete FIBA ranking in each category as well as the precise method on how it is calculated, visit www.fiba.basketball.