Russia leads teams vying for WC slots

MANILA, Philippines - Former titlists Russia, Brazil and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Asian power China led the list of 15 teams that beat the deadline for submission of applications for the four world wild cards completing the 24-team draw in the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain.

Other hopefuls are European teams Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Poland and Turkey, African bet Nigeria and Asian squad Qatar.

Having gained berths in the quadrennial meet slated Aug. 30 to Sept. 14 next year in six Spanish cities are host Spain, Olympic champion USA and qualifiers the Philippines, Iran and Korea from Asia, Angola, Egypt and Senegal from Africa, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Argentina and Dominican Republic from the Americas, Australia and New Zealand from Oceania, and France, Lithuania, Croatia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Serbia from Europe.

According to the FIBA website www.fiba.com, the FIBA Central Board could shorten the list of wild card candidates in its meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Nov. 23-24.

FIBA will announce the countries getting the wild cards in its Barcelona meeting on Feb. 1-2, then hold the World Cup draw the following day.

With their legacy and strong basketball bases and followings, China, Russia and Brazil are favorites for these wild cards.

No more than three teams from one FIBA zone can receive the wild cards.

Promotional, economic and governance aspects are those to be taken into consideration. Big keys are popularity of basketball in the country, performance in international competitions and involvement of local television and corporate sector in the domestic and international basketball competitions.

China, failing to make it past the quarterfinals in the FIBA Asia Championship, is a tough bet being a large basketball market.