Both Australia and Canada have made it clear that none of their athletes will go to Tokyo to attend the Summer Olympics unless the event is postponed. The news made many Chinese basketball fans wonder if this will increase China's chance of making the Olympics.

The current situation goes as follows: Australia are already qualified for Tokyo, thanks to their incredible performance at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in China last year. Canada by contrast, were a disappointment and thus have to attend the qualification tournament at home in June, and they are in the same group with China and Greece.

Considering that both Canada and Greece have enough players to make NBA-level squads, few Chinese fans believed that their national team will stand any chance in front of the two opponents.

Then if Canada and Australia both quit, will that be China's chance?

First, Canada have not achieved Olympic qualification. If the team don't attend the qualification tournament, FIBA Americas will select another team from its conference to take Canada's place.

Second, Australia have already secured an Olympic spot but they do so as a team from FIBA Oceania. Even if the Boomers give it up, it will go to New Zealand, not China.

So the answer is clear, China will not benefit from the withdrawal of Canada and Australia from the Olympics.

There's another theory that the FIBA may cancel the qualification tournament in June and select Olympics participants based on teams' rankings at the World Cup.

That won't do China any favor either because, though they played at home, the team only ended ranking No. 24 at the event. With only four Olympic spots left, there is simply no way for China to get lucky.

In fact, Canada and Australia pulling out may be the "First Domino" before more countries decide to join – after all, athletes are most important assets to them and it does not make any sense to risk their lives to an infectious disease that we know not enough about.

Therefore, the most likely consequence will be a postponement or outright cancellation of this year's Olympic Games. If that happens, it will officially put an end to the Olympic hope of this generation of Chinese basketball players.