Canada’s Senior Men’s National Team (SMNT) road for a last bid entry to the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio De Janerio has been revealed and it’s a tough one.
Ranked 26th in the World according FIBA’s latest rankings, Canada was drawn into Group A of the 2016 Manilla Olympic Qualifying Tournament alongside No. 8 Turkey and No. 31 Senegal. Additionally, Group B consists of European powerhouse and No.5 ranked France as well No. 21 New Zealand and tournament host and number 28-ranked Philippines.
Canada missed out an automatic berth to the Olympics when it came out flat and dropped a unexpected loss to Venezuela in the semi-finals of the 2015 FIBA Americas zone qualifier forcing Canada’s hopes of ending their 16-year Olympic basketball drought into a last chance 18-tournament team. Competition runs from July 4-10, 2016.
