Basketball New Zealand

Russian star Andrei Kirilenko (FIBA)

Germany, Lithuania, Russia and Lebanon have been awarded the final four wild-card spots at next year’s FIBA World Championship for Men in Turkey.

Their addition brings the field to 24 team ahead of the official draw in Istanbul on Tuesday.

Those teams are …
Hosts (1) – Turkey
Olympic Champions (1) – USA
Africa (3) – Angola, Ivory Coast, Tunisia
Americas (4) – Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico
Asia (3) – China, Iran, Jordan
Europe (6) – Croatia, France, Greece, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain
Oceania (2) – Australia, New Zealand
Wild Cards (4) – Germany, Lebanon, Lithuania, Russia

Germany is a team the Tall Blacks are particularly familiar with, having faced them at the 2002 and FIBA World Championships and again at the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens. They beat New Zealand twice at Indianapolis seven years ago, including the bronze medal playoff and although they failed to qualify directly through Eurobasket this year, they could be boosted by the return of NBA star Dirk Nowitzki.

The Tall Blacks have played Lebanon just once, beating them in Canada last year en route to the Olympic qualifying tournament. They the last two world championships and were beaten by Jordan for third place at this year’s Asian Championships.

For their size (population four million), Lithuania have a very proud record in world basketball, particularly at the Olympics, where they reached the last three semifinals. But they have not been so success at world championships – they did not qualify for Indianapolis and were eliminated in the quarterfinals by eventual champions Spain in 2006 – and could not reach the top 12 at this year’s Eurobasket.

Russia have also been fairly inconsistent over the past 10 years, since finishing runners-up at the 1998 world championship. The Tall Blacks beat them in pool play at Indianapolis, they were European champions in 2007 behind NBA forwafrd Andrei Kirilenko, but disappointed at last year’s Olympics and could not qualify directly for world championships through Eurobasket, where they finished eighth.

The draw, scheduled for 10.30pm NZ time Tuesday, will take place at the Ciragan Palace Kempinski Hotel in Istanbul. New Zealand will be represented by FIBA Oceania president Barbara Wheadon and NZ ambassador to Turkey Andrea Smith.

The ceremony can be watched live on www.FIBATV.com.