Excitement builds ahead of Wednesday's FIBA U17 World Championship Draws

ZARAGOZA (2016 FIBA U17 World Championships) - Teams gearing up for the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championships will discover which hurdles they will have to clear early on at the events when the draws for the competitions are held in Zaragoza, Spain, on Wednesday.

Both the men's and women's championships are to be staged in Zaragoza from 22 June to 3 July. This is the first time the tournaments will be played jointly - as part of a youth world basketball festival.

The draw ceremony will be at 18:30 in Zaragoza and will be shown live on youtube.com/fiba.

There is a lot of excitement about the draw and the overall build-up to the events because of the battles that were waged a couple of years ago. The USA saw off a spirited challenge from Australia for the second time in a row to win the title in Dubai. It marked the third straight crown for the Americans in as many U17 World Championships.

The USA women have also won the three editions of their event, in 2010, 2012 and 2014. They have beaten Spain in the last couple of title showdowns, including a 77-75 triumph two years in the Czech Republic.

The countries that will compete in the FIBA U17 World Championships following successful qualifying campaigns are as follows:

MEN (23 June-3 July)
Host: Spain
Africa: Egypt, Mali
Americas: USA, Canada, Argentina, Dominican Republic
Asia: Korea, Chinese Taipei, China
Europe: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Lithuania, Turkey, France, Finland
Oceania: Australia

WOMEN (22 June-2 July)
Host: Spain
Africa: Mali, Nigeria
Americas: Canada, Brazil, USA, Mexico
Asia: China, Japan, Korea
Europe: Czech Republic, Portugal, Italy, Latvia, France
Oceania: Australia

FIBA