Croatia, Serbia and France complete Rio Olympic basketball cast
France earns the final ticket to the Rio Olympics after beating Canada, 83-74, in the final of the Fiba Olympic qualifying tournament in Manila on Sunday night, July 10, 2016, at Mall of Asia Arena. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Croatia, Serbia and France joined nine other teams that will compete in the men’s basketball competition in the Rio Olympics next month.
The three won their respective Fiba Olympic qualifying tournaments to earn the last three tickets to Rio. READ: Parker lifts France over Canada and into Rio Olympics Croatia ended an eight-year Olympic drought after outlasting host Italy, 84-78, in overtime behind Bojan Bogdanovic and Dario Saric, who has named tournament MVP in Turin. Over at Belgrade, host Serbia clobbered Puerto Rico, 108-77, in the final. Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic was named MVP. In Manila, crowd favorite France outplayed Canada late to win, 83-74, with Tony Parker carrying the French in the final six minutes of the fourth quarter. Parker dazzled his way to 26 points while teammate Nando de Colo, who was voted MVP, added 22. Both Serbia and France went undefeated, winning all of their four games on their way to Rio. READ: French coach gets wish as France joins USA group in Olympics During the official draw, France and Serbia joined USA, Venezuela, China and Australia in Group A while Croatia was picked in Group B with Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Lithuania and Nigeria.
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