Basketball New Zealand

2010 Youth Olympic Games logo

New Zealand have drawn potentially the toughest pool and face Greece in the opening game of men’s basketball competition at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, August 15-23.

Contested in the FIBA33 format, the tournament will feature 20 teams from every corner of the globe, consisting of athletes born between January 1, 1993 and December 31, 1994.

The Kiwis, coached by Harbour’s Alex Stojkovic, have landed in a preliminary group that includes three of the world’s top 10 men’s basketball programmes – Greece (fourth), Serbia (fifth) and Puerto Rico (10th), as well as emerging Asian nation India (52nd).

New Zealand sits 13th on the FIBA men’s ranking list. No other pool has more than two teams from the top 20.

The top two teams from each of the four pools will progress to quarterfinals, while the others will play off for placings 9-20.

“It is a great honour for New Zealand to play against such respected basketball countries as Serbia, Greece and Puerto Rico,” says Stojkovic.

“This is a very tough section, but it offers us an opportunity to play against some of the best junior basketball players in the world. We are very excited and can’t wait to get there!”

New Zealand’s basketball preparation is being greatly assisted by Olympic Solidarity Funding.

Stojkovic has 11 athletes at his final selection camp in Auckland this weekend. The full list of trialists is …

James Ashby (West Auckland), Scott Cameron (Nelson), Ben Fraser (Harbour), Te Ra Hodges-Tai (Waikato), Michael Karena (Nelson), Aaron Keppler (Waikato), Alex Talma (Harbour), Reuben TeRangi (Counties Manukau), Croydon Thompson (Canterbury), Stanley Williams (Wellington), Joshua Young (Counties Manukau)

The full YOG pool draw for men is …

Sunday, August 15
9am Greece v NZ (Group A)
9.30am Iran v Egypt (Group B)
10am Singapore v Central Africa Republic (Group C)
10.30am Spain v Croatia (Group D)
11am India v Puerto Rico (Group A)
11.30am Panama v Lithuania (Group B)
Noon USA v Turkey (Group C)
12.30am US Virgin Islands v South Africa (Group D)

Monday, August 16
9am Serbia v India (Group A)
9.30am Argentina v Panama (Group B)
10am Israel v USA (Group C)
10.30am Philippines v US Virgin Islands (Group D)
11am Puerto Rico v Greece (Group A)
11.30am Lithuania v Iran (Group B)
Noon Turkey v Singapore (Group C)
12.30am South Africa v Spain (Group D)

Tuesday, August 17
9am NZ v Puerto Rico (Group A)
9.30am Egypt v Lithuania (Group B)
10am Central Africa Republic v Turkey (Group C)
10.30am Croatia v South Africa (Group D)
11am Greece v Serbia (Group A)
11.30am Iran v Argentina (Group B)
Noon Singapore v Israel (Group C)
12.30am Spain v Philippines (Group D)

Wednesday, August 18
9am India v Greece (Group A)
9.30am Panama v Iran (Group B)
10am USA v Singapore (Group C)
10.30am US Virgin Islands v Spain (Group D)
11am Serbia v NZ (Group A)
11.30am Argentina v Egypt (Group B)
Noon Israel v Central African Republic (Group C)
12.30am Philippines v Croatia (Group D)

Thursday, August 19
9am Puerto Rico v Serbia (Group A)
9.30am Lithuania v Argentina (Group B)
10am Turkey v Israel (Group C)
10.30am South Africa v Philippines (Group D)
11am NZ v India (Group A)
11.30am Egypt v Panama (Group B)
Noon Central African Republic v USA (Group C)
12.30am Croatia v US Virgin Islands (Group D)