GENEVA/MADRID (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women) – The International Basketball Federation (FIBA), in cooperation with the Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB), will host the draw for the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women.

The draw will take place in Spain’s capital next Monday, 14th January 2008, at 12:30 hours, in the ‘Instituto de Formación y Estudios del Gobierno Central de Madrid’, which is located in Calle Almagro, 5.

On 9th December 2007, at its meeting in Chicago, the FIBA Central Board decided that the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women will be played in Madrid (Spain), in the 10.500-seat Telefónica Arena, from 9th to 15th June 2008.

The following seven teams have already booked their tickets for the Olympic Basketball Tournament for Women that will take place in Beijing (China), from 9th to 23rd August 2008: China (host), Australia (World Champion), Mali (African Champion), USA (Champion of the Americas), Korea (Asian Champion), Russia (European Champion) and New Zealand (Oceanian runner-up).

The remaining five berths for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will be decided in the 12-team FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women that will feature the following participants: Senegal and Angola (Africa), Cuba, Brazil and Argentina (Americas), Japan and Chinese Taipei (Asia), Spain, Belarus, Latvia and Czech Republic (Europe) and Fiji (Oceania).

During Monday’s draw, the above-mentioned 12 national teams will be divided into four groups of three teams each. Each team will play all the other teams in its own group. The teams placed 1st and 2nd in each group will advance to the Quarter-Finals. The four winners of the Quarter-Finals will qualify for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, while the four losers will play in the Semi-Finals and Finals for the fifth and final remaining Olympic spot.

For further information on the system of competition of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women, please refer to Press Release # 50 or to the following link:

http://www.fiba.basketball/pages/eng/fc/news/presRele/p/newsid/22284/presReleArti.html

All media representatives interested in covering the draw are kindly requested to send an email with their complete details and passport number to the following two emails addresses:

• Marcos Beltrá (FIBA’s Press Director): beltra@fiba.com

• Darío Quesada (LOC’s Press Officer): dquesadal@feb.es

Last but not least, please be informed that on Monday the respective websites of the International Basketball Federation (www.fiba.basketball) and the Spanish Basketball Federation (www.febtv.com) will provide free coverage so that basketball fans around the world can follow the draw live on the Internet.

Full Event Guide

Do you want to get full into depth information on the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women in Madrid in English and Spanish? In the official Event Guide you will find precise information about the arena, the infrastructure, the competing teams including accumulated statistics, the system of play and the Olympic history for women’s teams. Please download the Event Guide here.