Having missed the early qualification for the 2020 Summer Olympics after their disappointing performance in the FIBA Basketball World Cup at home, China have only one option left to go to Tokyo next year – the Olympic qualifiers in June 2020. However, the competition will be even more brutal than the World Cup.

First, only 12 teams will participate in the Olympics next year. Japan as the host will get a spot and another seven qualification opportunities will be confirmed in the World Cup. Therefore, China can only compete for one of the remaining four spots with the other 23 teams.

The top 16 ranking teams in the World Cup will attend the Olympic qualifiers and will be joined by another eight wild card teams from Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific. Usually FIBA will choose the top two ranking teams of each region at that time for the Olympic qualifiers.

This may not sound very difficult for China since they are still one of the best teams in Asia, but attending the qualifiers is one thing, winning is another.

The following teams have already been eliminated from the World Cup, which means there is a good chance they will appear in the Olympic qualifiers: Canada, Germany, Montenegro, New Zealand, Turkey and Tunisia.

Several strong teams in Europe and Africa, for example, Slovenia, Croatia and Cameroon, have missed the World Cup and may not want to miss the Olympics again.

The 24 teams will be divided into six groups in the qualifiers. Only the top team from each group will qualify for the Olympics. After looking at the above list of possible contenders, what do you think of China's chances of securing the No. 1 spot in a group?