Several newcomers for Croatia at OQT in Turin

TURIN (2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments) - Croatia will have several new faces on their roster for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Turin but also plenty of familiar ones.

Filip Kruslin, Luka Babic, Zeljko Sakic, Marko Arapovic and Darko Planinic were not in the side that finished ninth at last year's EuroBasket but will play for new coach Aleksandar Petrovic in Italy.

Croatia 12-player roster for 2016 FIBA OQT in Turin
Marko Arapovic	Luka Babic	Miro Bilan	Bojan Bogdanovic
Mario Hezonja	Filip Kruslin	Darko Planinic	Zeljko Sakic
Dario Saric	Krunoslav Simon	Rok Stipcevic	Roko Leni Ukic

Cedevita power forward/center Arapovic had a stunning display for the Croatia team that reached the Final of the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship in Crete, Greece, and earned a spot in the All-Star Five. He was especially good in the team's Semi-Final triumph over Turkey.

The 2.13m center Planinic, who played for former Croatia coach Velimir Perasovic at Laboral Kutxa this season and helped the club reach the Euroleague Final Four, joins a front court that does not have Ante Tomic or Luka Zoric this summer. Planinic did feature for Croatia at EuroBasket 2013.

Bojan Bogdanovic, Dario Saric, Krunoslav Simon, Mario Hezonja, Miro Bilan and Roko Leni Ukic will play big minutes as Croatia try to duplicate the feat of the team that played at the 2008 OQT in Athens and claimed one of three places on offer for the Beijing Games.

Ukic, 31, was also in that side. Simon and Saric will be very influential players in this year's team, as well as Bogdanovic.

Croatia will face Tunisia and Italy in Group B at the OQT with Greece, Iran and Mexico in Group A. Only the winner of the event, which runs from 4-9 July, will qualify for the Rio de Janeiro Games.

FIBA