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LAS VEGAS (2007 FIBA Americas Championship) -The FIBA-Americas 2007 tournament format, already in it's third day of competition, gives berths on the top two finalists for  next year Beijing Olympics.  

Those teams should be known after Saturday's semifinal round.

Those teams that finished in third through fifth position earn a pass for next's year Olympic qualifying tournament, scheduled for the month of July. The site will be announced later.

The winners of Saturday semifinal earn their passport to Beijing, and the losers advance to the rematch tournament in July 2008. The fifth-place team also earns a ticket to this consolation tournament.

In the second round, the top four teams from each group advance to second round Group E. The fifth-place finishers in each pool are eliminated. Twelve teams from five continents will play for those three spots available for the 2008 Olympics.


On day after the FIBA-Americas ends, the Eurobasket tournament kicks off in Madrid, Spain, with 16 teams split in four groups.

In Group A, three teams have already classified, Greece, Serbia and Russia, leaving one spot open.

The Group B teams are, Spain, winner of the last World Cup in Japan, Croatia, Latvia and Portugal.

Lithuania, Turkey, Germany and the Czech Republic are in Group C, and Group D, teams are Finland, Slovenia, Italy and Poland.

Bryan Collangelo, general manager of the Toronto Raptors, doesn't feel comfortable with the participation of power-forward Jorge Garbajosa, in the Eurobasket tournament in Spain.

"We have the right to say whether Garbajosa can play in the tournament, and the probabilities are that he won't," said Collangelo.