Interesting Pool For New Zealand At U19 World Champs In Auckland
The New Zealand Junior Tall Blacks have been pooled with Argentina, Croatia and Kazakhstan in group D for the FIBA U19 Championship for Men in Auckland from July 2-12 after the official draw on Monday.
The JTBs, who will be competing in the U19 world championship for the first time, open their tournament against Argentina at the North Shore Events Centre on Tuesday, June 2.
“We’ve played both Argentina and Croatia at the Albert Schweitzer tournament last year, so we’ve experienced how they play,” Junior Tall Blacks point guard Logan van Beek(Canterbury) said following the draw for the ninth U19 championship at SkyCity in Auckland.
“It’s going to be tough but we’ve seen these teams before and we know what areas we have to improve to beat them. This is the first time the world championships have been in New Zealand and to play at home is going to be amazing.”
The USA, beaten finalists at the last U19 world championship in 2007, will be joined by France, Iran and Egypt in group B, while European power Spain will play Oceania champions Australia, Canada and Syria in group C, and Greece, Lithuania, Angola and Puerto Rico meet in group A.
The FIBA U19 Championship for Men, the third largest FIBA tournament and biggest for 2009, runs from July 2-12 at the North Shore Events Centre and ASB Stadium. The championship will be broadcast to 140 countries and an estimated audience of over 100 million.
Group A
Lithuania
Greece
Angola
Puerto Rico
Group B
France
Iran
USA
Egypt
Group C
Canada
Spain
Syria
Australia
Group D
Argentina
Croatia
New Zealand
Kazakhstan
No comments:
Post a Comment