FIBA U/17 Championships get under way

Leading up to the Youth Olympic Games taking place in early August this year, and the FIBA Men’s World Championships of Basketball happening later in August 2010, the FIBA Mens u/17 championships are getting the action going this weekend.

The preliminary rounds start today, 2 July 2010, with group matches taking place. The finals will take place on 11 July 2010 (the same day as the soccer World Cup Final – wonder if this influence viewing levels, especially if those countries are represented in the Finals too as countries like Spain or Argentina might be).

You can follow the championship action on their dedicated website – hamburg2010.fiba.com.

There are 12 teams competing from the five continents, with Egypt competing as the sole African representative. Favourites appear to be the USA, although they will face tough competition.

The competition should be fascinating to follow as it will give a good glimpse of what the basketball landscape might look like in five years time.

Who is your favourite team, and why?

The full event schedule is here.

Tags: Basketball, FIBA, u/17, world championships