The pre-Olympic tournaments started last night with victories of the main favorite teams to contest the last four places to access the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Canada, Serbia, Lithuania, Turkey and Brazil They started with victories in their respective boxes and take a first step heading to super sunday who will decide the four chosen.
Victory Pre-Olympic
Canada had to sweat the fat drop against Greece, which made them suffer until the last second in their narrow 97-91 victory in a match played in Victoria, Canada. The hosts won with 23 points of Andrew Wiggins, 22 of Rj barrett and 18 of Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
Up to five Greek players scored in double digits, led by 14 goals from Konstantinos Mitoglou and the 12 points and 9 assists from Nick Calathes, Barça base. Greece’s options to advance to the semi-finals of the tournament will most likely go through a win against China on Thursday.
In group B of the Victoria tournament, Turkey got off to a good start against Urugay by winning the Latin Americans 95-86. Cedi Osman scored 27 points in the comeback of the Turks, who squandered an 11-point lead and then had to tighten the nuts with a 31-14 final run to win the match.
Jayson granger, with 25 points and 10 assists, he was Uruguay’s most outstanding player.
Belgrade Pre-Olympic
In Belgrade, Serbia got off to a good start his way back to the Olympics after winning the silver medal at Rio 2016. Boban marjanovic, center of the Dallas Mavericks, led the hosts with 18 points and 10 rebounds to win 94-76 at Dominican Republic.
Filip Petrusev, with 17 points, and Vasilije Micic, with 16 goals, complemented the great work of the Serbian interior. Michael Torres Cuevas and Victor Liz scored 16 points both for the Dominicans. Serbia will face the Philippines on Wednesday to advance to the semifinals as group winners.
Kaunas pre-Olympic
In Kaunas, the hosts did not fail either and they took a victory for 76-65 over Venezuela thanks to the inner dominance of Jonas Valanciunas, who added 20 points and 11 rebounds. Domantas Sabonis and Mantas Kalnietis they contributed 12 points each. David Cubillan led the Venezuelans with 11 points.
On the other side of the picture Poland beat Angola 83-64 with 22 points in 23 minutes of Mateusz ponitka and 16 points from AJ Slaughter. Yanick Moreira stood out for the Africans with 27 goals. Lithuania plays the first group place against South Korea Thursday.
Split Pre-Olympic
In Croatia, Germany had to sweat against Mexico to win by a tight 82-76 after an 18-3 set in the fourth quarter that allowed them to come back and achieve the victory. Joshiko Saibou led the Germans with 17 points, while Francisco Cruz he came away with 30 points for the Mexicans.
Brazil started without surprises and gave a real beating to Tunisia (83-57) with 15 points of Vitor benite Y prominent role of Oussama Marnaoui, with 13 points for the Africans. The Brazilians play Croatia today in a match that can decide who will go to the semifinals as the first group.