Olympic dream still alive for EuroBasket 2015 Quarter-Final beaten teams

LILLE (EuroBasket 2015) - The dream of playing at the 2016 Rio Olympics is not over for the four teams that lost in the EuroBasket 2015 Quarter-Finals. 

Teams that finish third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh in Lille will book their places to participate in one of the three 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (OQTs) - and a chance to be in Brazil next summer.

Greece, Latvia, Czech Republic and Italy still have plenty to play for after their hopes of a EuroBasket crown were dashed in Tuesday and Wednesday's Quarter-Finals.

But the winners of the two Classification 5-8 Games - Greece vs Latvia and Czech Republic vs Italy - will book their tickets for the OQTs. The losers of those two games will have one more chance to advance to the OQTs as the winner of Friday's Classification 7-8 Game will also be playing in the qualifying tournament next summer.

Greece failed to make it to the Olympics in 2012 after registering fifth-place finishes in 2004 (on home soil) and 2008.

Latvia's only trip to the Olympics for men's basketball came in 1936 - when the sport made its debut in the Olympiad - as the Baltic side finished 15th. 

"Greece are a great team with top NBA players and top Euroleague players. For me, it's a surprise they are not in top four," Latvia coach Ainars Bagatskis said. "They will prepare very well against us. We have nothing to lose."

The Czech Republic have never played at the Olympics although Czechoslovakia made their final of three straight appearances in 1980 - finishing ninth.

"We had a great tournament and if we finished eighth no one will kill us. But these players deserve another win," Czech coach Ronen Ginzburg said.

Italy's last berth at the 12-team Olympics came in 2004 when they grabbed the silver medal behind only Argentina.

"I hope my players will be ready. It will be a tough game, and it's a big game for us because it's about qualifying for the Olympics," Italy coach Simone Pianigiani said.