As the countdown to the 2020 Summer Olympics nears, athletes are seen competing in various tournaments to give their best shot to earn a berth at the Tokyo Olympics Schedule. Women’s basketball is also no stranger to this feat. Twelve teams will qualify for the women’s basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics tournament via the four FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments. The host nation Japan and the 2018 World Cup winner USA has already qualified. These two teams, however, had to play in the pre-qualifying and qualifying tournaments and took one of the qualifying spots from those tournaments. Thus, while two of the World Qualifying Tournaments provided quota spots to the top three teams, the other two tournaments provided quota spots only to the top two teams plus either the host nation or the World Cup winner. Teams had to qualify for the Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments through Women’s EuroBasket or Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournaments with the requirement that they themselves must be qualified for through Continental Cups).
The four FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments took place in the cities of Ostend, Bourges, Belgrade, and Foshan from 6 to 9 February 2020. However, the Foshan tournament was moved to Belgrade due to concerns over the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak. There was also a pre-qualifying process for the World Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (WOQTs). European teams had to finish in the top six of EuroBasket, while teams from the Americas, Asia (including Oceania), and Africa played in pre-qualifying tournaments. 16 total teams qualified for the WOQTs. The Olympic host Japan and the World Cup winner the United States automatically qualified for the WOQTs, each taking a spot from their respective continent.
The 12 teams qualified through the 2020 FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments are – Japan, United States, Belgium, Canada, Australia, France, Puerto Rico, Nigeria, Serbia, China, South Korea and Spain. These 12 teams will be competing to earn a medal to add to their nation’s Tokyo Olympics Medal Tally. The draw for Tokyo 2020 Women’s Olympic Basketball Tournament will take place on 21st March 2020 with a tournament commencing from 27th July 2020.
