Olympic basketball wide open after US WC woes

BEIJING: The Tokyo 2020 Olympics basketball suddenly looks wide open after reigning champions the United States suffered their worst World Cup, Spain triumphed and Argentina surprised. World Cup bronze medallists France, and Australia, who were edged out of the medals but pushed eventual winners Spain all the way in the semi-finals, will also be in contention. And not forgetting Serbia, who along with Gregg Popovich’s young Team USA were the favourites in China but were also surprise victims in the quarter-finals. The Tokyo Games are just over 10 months away and after some downtime following their exertions at the World Cup, teams will begin training their sights on next summer. “It’s exactly what I knew it to be because I’ve been involved with it before and in this day and age basketball in other countries is not a secret,” Popovich said after his team’s disappointing seventh-placed finish. “So it’s not like there’s an epiphany or revelation to be made. “There are wonderful teams and wonderful coaches all over the world so there’s no surprise in any of that.” If the United States can convince the likes of double gold medallist LeBron James to play in Tokyo, they will be favourites to make it four Olympic titles in a row. But it remains to be seen whether the flak flying Team USA’s way after the China debacle scares the A-listers away or stings them into action.