China to play in Beijing in Group A at 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup
Team China as the host for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup, will be in Group A and play their first three games in Beijing while the defending champion Team USA will be in Shanghai with Group E, announced FIBA on Friday.
FIBA divided the 32 qualified teams for the World Cup into eight pots. China as the host was made a Pot 1 team as an exception while the other 31 teams were assigned to their pots based on their FIBA World Rankings.
Teams of Pot 1, Pot 4, Pot 5 and Pot 8 will go to Group A, Group C, Group E and Group G while teams of Pot 2, Pot 3, Pot 6 and Pot 7 will go to Group B, Group D, Group F and Group H.
Teams from Asia will not be divided into the same group, neither do teams from America.
Locations of the eight groups were also confirmed: Group A in Beijing, Group B in Wuhan, Group C in Guangzhou, Group D in Foshan, Group E in Shanghai, Group F in Nanjing, Group G in Shenzhen and Group H in Dongguan.
FIBA president Horacio Muratore from Argentina announces China as the host country of the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup during a ceremony in Tokyo, August 7, 2015. /VCG Photo
The following were which teams were divided into which pot and which groups they will go to:
Pot 1: China, USA, Spain and France will go to Group A, C, E, G.
Pot 2: Serbia, Argentina, Lithuania and Greece will go to Group B, D, F, H.
Pot 3: Russia, Australia, Brazil and Italy will go to Group B, D, F, H but Brazil will not be in the same group with Argentina.
Pot 4: Puerto Rico, Turkey, Dominican Republic and Venezuela will go to Group A, C, E, G but none of Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic or Venezuela will be in the same group with the USA.
Pot 5: Germany, Iran, Czech and Poland will go to Group A, C, E, G but Iran will not be in the same group with China.
Pot 6: Canada, Montenegro, the Philippines and South Korea will go to Group B, D, F, H but Canada can be in the same group with neither Argentina nor Brazil while the Philippines and South Korea cannot be in the same group with Australia.
Pot 7: Nigeria, Senegal, New Zealand and Angola will go to Group B, D, F, H but New Zealand will not be in the same group with Australia, the Philippines or South Korea.
Pot 8: Japan, Jordan, Tunisia and Côte d'Ivoire will go to Group A, C, E, G but Japan and Jordan cannot be in the same group with China or Iran.
The draw will happen on Saturday in Shenzhen.