The Israel Basketball Association (IBA) announced Monday that it hopes to host one of three qualifying tournaments for men’s basketball ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympics to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Earlier this month, Israel lost its chance to compete in the Olympic-qualifying tournaments, after its national basketball team (featuring the NBA's own Omri Casspi and former NBA star Gal Mekel) lost games to Italy and France. Each tournament will feature six national teams, and will be hosted in three different countries.
Despite its losses, if Israel were to be chosen as a host, its national team would automatically be granted a slot to participate. The three winners of each tournament will then gain an Olympic berth.
In addition to Italy and France, Serbia, Greece, Canada, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Angola, Tunisia, Senegal and New Zealand have also confirmed places in the Olympic-qualifying tournaments.
The United States, Brazil, Nigeria, Australia, Venezuela, Argentina, Lithuania and Spain have already qualified for the Olympics.
Israel has also applied to host one of the early stages of Eurobasket 2017. The tournament will announce host countries in December.
This is the latest in a bid to improve the quality of life for sports fans in Israel: on the football (soccer) front, the Israelis are still enroute to qualifying for their first-ever UEFA finals competition, and coveted franchise Maccabi Tel Aviv are currently fighting in the Champion's League.
On the football (American) front, Israel just recently won its first-ever international game against Spain.
