TUR - Turkey welcomes OQT Women draw

ANKARA (FIBA Olympic Qualifyig Tournament for Women) - On Wednesday 15 February the attention of the international basketball world returns to Turkey some 18 months after the 2010 FIBA World Championship, as Ankara hosts the draw for the women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT).

The draw will be held at 11:00 local time (10:00 CET) and can be followed live on draws.fiba.com.

The twelve participating teams (Argentina, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Japan, Korea, Mali, Mozambique, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and Turkey) will be drawn into four groups of three teams to fight for the last five Olympic places at the London Games.

The group stage will be played as a round robin, with the top two teams from each group moving on to the Quarter-Finals.

The four winning Quarter-Finalists automatically qualify for London, while the four losing teams play a standard knockout tournament, to determine the last remaining participant at the Olympics.

Argentina, Croatia, Mali, Mozambique, Puerto Rico and Turkey are looking to qualify for the women's Olympic Basketball Tournament for the first time in their history.

The draw could see the Ankara Arena welcome a women's re-match of Turkey's 79-77 victory over Puerto Rico in a game that constituted one of the highlights of first round action at the 2010 World Championship.

The 2012 OQT for Women will be played 25 June-1 July.

In the 2008 edition of the OQT for Women Belarus, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Spain and Latvia took the five spots on offer.

FIBA