Seven Teams Book Sure Ticket to 2012 London Olympics

All of the continental qualifying competitions are all in the books and the seven of the 12 slots for the 2012 London Olympics Women’s Basketball Competition have already been booked.

Great Britain, who earned an automatic slot in the competition for they will be hosting the biggest sporting event, will be joined by USA, Brazil, Australia, Russia, China, and Angola.

The world number one, USA, was the first team to qualify after ruling the 2010 World Basketball Championship in Turkey. As expected, they will be the heavily-favored team in the tournament especially if it will be based on their performance in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the World Championship.

The USA women’s team, who will be handled by coach Geno Auriemma and will be bannered by WNBA superstars, is currently in a 12-day European Tour, which is a part of their preparation for the 2012 Olympics.

Brazil also booked a ticket to London next year after their masterful domination of the FIBA Americas Championship for Women. The Brazilians, who was led by WNBA star Erika DeSouza, completed an unbeaten run in the tournament with a dominating 74-33 win over Argentina in the finals.

Australia, on the other hand, qualified to the London Olympics by clobbering FIBA Oceania rival New Zealand in their three-game series, which is the official continental qualifier of FIBA Oceania. The Australian Opals defeated New Zealand 77-64 in game one, 92-73 in game two, and 82-57 in game three.

Russia will also be playing in arguably one of the most anticipated sporting event after earning the right to represent FIBA Europe in the women’s basketball competition with a triumphant campaign in 2011 EuroBasket Women where they defeated Turkey, 59-42, in the finals.

China will also see action in 2012 London Olympics after winning the gold medal in the 24th FIBA Asia Championship for Women, defeating bitter-rival Korea, 65-52, in a thrilling finale.

And last but certainly not the least is Angola, who is arguably the most surprising continental tournament winner. Angola pulled off a huge 62-54 upset over defending African champion Senegal in the finals of the AfroBasket Women 2011 in Bamako, Mali last week.

Seven Slots Down, Five More at Stake

Five more slots are still at stake and it will be contested in next year’s FIBA Olympic Basketball Qualifiers.

Competing in next year’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament are FIBA Americas’ Argentina and Canada, FIBA Asia’s Korea and Japan, FIBA Africa’s Senegal and Mali, FIBA Oceania’s New Zealand, and FIBA Europe’s Turkey, France, Czech Republic, and Croatia.