Are you looking to watch Lebanon vs. Canada or Russia vs Puerto Rico in the first day of World Championships’ group play?

Follow all the pool play matches in Interbasket’s World Championships of Basketball forum where we’ve created game-specific threads so you can follow your favorite national teams,

find out where to watch the game online, comment, and cheer along with Puerto Ricans, Angolans, Lebanese and other diehard basketball fans from abroad.  Check out the individual game threads below:

* Looking for Greece-China and the earlier matches – go here: Watch Greece-China Live in World Championships

• CHINA: Yao Ming and his with wife Ye Li, are expecting their first child. Not only will the child be in the limelight as Yao Ming’s offspring, but the nation will track the child as the next basketball prodigy. The 7-6 Yao and 6-2 Ye Li, who also plays for the Chinese National Team, will likely give birth to a very, very, very tall child. I would hate to be that child; his/her path is already paved, and nothing short of international success the benchmark. Follow the Chinese fever of “YY”.

• GERMANY: Even with the names of luminaries such as Gasol, Kukoč, Sabonis and Petrovic, is Dirk Nowitzki already the greatest European NBA player ever?  (Discuss and argue this question in our forum).

• GREAT BRITAIN: Pops Mensah-Bonsu was released, again, by the Toronto Raptors. The 6-9 forward, who was already released by Toronto over the summer and by Houston earlier this season, averaged 2.1 points, 1.9 rebounds and 6.7 minutes in 16 games with Toronto. In the money-saving move, the Raptors are looking to sign him to a 10-day contract.

• KOREA: The first Korean player to reach the NCAA will leave the University of Maryland. Forward Choi Jin-Soo was being unable to reconcile his studies and play basketball; he willl return to Korea and play in the KBL (From Basket-Spot).

• LEBANON: Lebanese superstar Fadi El Khatib will move from Champville Maristes Sports of Lebanon and will play for Al-Jalaa, a Syrian club, next season. The 6-6 rugged forward signed a four-year deal.

• TURKEY: The Turkish All-Star Game will be played this Sunday, the two teams featured will be the Turkish Stars and the Foreign Stars (Talk Turkish basketball in our forum).

• USA/NBA: Laker coach Phil Jackson is blaming Chinese for NBA All-Star voting, even though he’s wrong: “I think Houston might have all their players in the top five at every position,” Jackson said. “That Chinese fan group, they vote for the Houston team because of Yao Ming and their relationship to Houston. It’s all skewed.”

• USA/NBA: With Ronny Turiaf (France) and Andris Biedriņš (Latvia) returning from injury and back to the Golden State lineup this last week, the team has released NBA journeyman Mikki Moore.

Check out all of our global roundups with short takes and notes on international basketball news from leagues and players from around the world. Got an update or breaking news? Send us an email.

It’s been a busy week for FIBA as they announced the four wild cards on Saturday, and determined the top four seeds for the World Championships of Basketball on Sunday.

Now the federation that overseas international basketball has announced the draw results that will determine the groupings for the 2010 world basketball event in Istanbul, Turkey.

The 24 participating nations were drawn into four groups of six teams each:

• Group A: Serbia, Argentina, Australia, Jordan, Germany, Angola
• Group B: Croatia, Brazil, Tunisia, Slovenia, Iran, USA
• Group C: China, Turkey, Russia, Puerto Rico, Ivory Coast, Greece
• Group D: Lithuania, Lebanon, France, Spain, Canada, New Zealand

(Discuss the draw results in our forum)

The draw was held at the the Ciragan Palace Kempinski Hotel, Istanbul, on 15th December 15th, 2009 at 11:30AM local time.

The draw was conducted jointly by FIBA and the LOC in the presence of participating nations’ representatives, “National Federation members, prominent public figures and members of the international media.”

The FIBA World Championships are held every four years and determines the world’s top country in basketball.

After weeks of speculation, FIBA has chosen the four final countries, Germany, Lebanon, Lithuania, and Russia, that will represent in the 2010 World Championships of Basketball.

(germany-lebanon-lithuania-and-russia-awarded-12172/#post”>Discuss FIBA’s four wild card selections in our forum)

The maximum three -from-one-region wild cards went to Europe, leaving Great Britain as the only European finalist without a ticket. With their resurgence onto the basketball scene as the hosts of the 2012 Summer Olympics being held in London, Great Britain was likely fifth place in the voting

The other three finalists that were in the running were two nations from Africa, Cameroon and Nigeria, and one from Asia – Korea.

The wild card process started with 14 nations, which was whittled down to eight before the FIBA board chose the four federations last night. Congratulations to Germany, Lebanon, Lithuania, and Russia.

We are onlyy one day away from FIBA announcing the final four countries that will fill the tournament field for the 2010 World Championships.

(Predict the four teams to WC2010)

The Wild Card process started with 14 teams hoping for one of the four remaining spots; now it’s been whittled down to just eight basketball federations and  their current FIBA world rankings: Cameroon (#43), Germany (7), Great Britain (73), Korea (27), Lebanon (24), Lithuania (6), Nigeria (22), and Russia (17).

From FIBA’s world rankings, the four wild cards should go to Lithuania (6), Germany (7), Russia (17) and Nigeria (22), but who knows what FIBA is thinking, but they consider three criteria when selecting wild cards; sporting, economics, and governing aspects for each country.

Wild-card hopefuls must also pay a controversial 500,000 € fee, prior to FIBA’s decision, with the fees going into the marketing and promotion of basketball through FIBA’s International Basketball Foundation.

A maximum of three teams from one region will be allowed, meaning that Europe can only have 3/4 teams that can be awarded the Wild Card, and it’s not unlikely that Europe will get three teams.

Stay tuned, there will be some very happy teams and some very unhappy teams come Saturday night.

The FIBA Wild Cards will determine four teams’ fates for the 2010 World Championships of basketball.

With a few days remaining before FIBA announces their selections, which countries do you think FIBA will select for the event in Turkey in 2010? Below are Interbasket’s top 11 contenders:

• Cameroon
• Dominican Republic
• Germany
• Great Britain
• Korea
• Lebanon
• Lithuania
• Nigeria
• Poland
• Russia
• Taiwan

Seems that Interbasket members mostly agree that Russia and Germany will be locks to receive a ticket to the huge basketball event.

Go to our forum and pick the four countries that you think FIBA will choose based on their criteria of sporting, economics, and governing factors with a maximum of three wild cards from any one zone (that means you, Europe!).

It’s already been hinted that the sporting factor will weigh more heavily, benefiting teams from Europe and the Americas.

After the Wild Cards have been determined, the draw for the World Championships will be held at the Ciragan Palace Kempinski Hotel, Istanbul on Tuesday, 15th December 2009 at 11:30AM local time.

The American duo of Marshall Phillips (196-F-75 ) and Adrian Penland (186-G-80) will join Sagesse – Al Hekmeh Beirut for the upcoming season.

(Discuss Lebanese Basketball in our forum)

The 34-year old Phillips attended Appalachian State University and has shown good experience along his career which included stops in France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and the NBDL.

The 29 year old Penland was the best player of Lappeenranta NMKY (Finland-Korisliiga) in Finland. He also played before in Latvia, Poland, Cyprus, Greece, Germany.

With these two new imports, Sagesse Al Hekmeh is real candidate for championship in Lebanon.

Tijani Umar, the President of the NBBF (Nigeria Basketball Federation) recently returned from Zurich, Switzerland after a meeting with FIBA World officials to chat about the FIBA wild cards for the 2010 World Championships.

However, Umar’s meeting with FIBA officials did not make him very positive on Nigeria’s chances.

While speaking with Ungar, FIBA hinted that they would be selecting the wild cards based on a country’s potential to make some impact on the world stage.

This “impact” factor is listed in FIBA’s wild card criteria, but for FIBA officials to emphasize that, fuels further speculation that the “quality and sporting results of the national teams of the country” is more heavily weighed than any other aspect.

After Nigeria finished fifth in the 2009 Afrobasket tournament, it would be difficult to justify their selection.

FIBA World Championships Wild Cards
With twenty teams having already clinched a spot to Turkey, there are still four slots remaining. These four spots are the wild cards and will be determined by FIBA.

(Chat more about the FIBA wild cards)

In order to qualify for a wild card, a team must have participated in their respective qualifying competition. From there, FIBA will take into consideration the sporting, economic, and governance aspects of that country.

Nigeria is on the short list of roughly ten teams vying for one of the four final spots.

Some of the top contenders for the spot include Cameroon, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Korea, Lebanon, Lithuania, Nigeria, and Russia.

There are going to be six very disappointed teams come December when FIBA announces which four countries will receive the wild cards at the FIBA Central Board meeting in Geneva.

Ahmad Ibrahim, a native of Lebanon, is a 6-7 shooting guard/small forward that shined brightly for the Lebanese in the U18 Asian Championships.

During that tournament, Ibrahim was praised by many coaches for his high basketball skills and IQ despite his age; Ahmad is just a 16 years kid.

By many accounts, Ibrahim can shoot from outside, come off screens for his accurate midrange jumpers, and has shown the potential to become a major college prospect during the next few years.

Fadi El-Khatib, arguably regarded as the best Lebanese basketball player in history, recently spoke about Ahmad Ibrahim during an interview.

When Khatib was asked about future basketball generations, he praised Ibrahim.

“I’ve noticed a strong kid called Ahmad during a practice at Manara court,” said Khatib “(Ibrahim is) definitely strong and skilled. He has for sure a chance to become the second Lebanese-born, after Rony Seikaly, to play in the NBA if he continues his improvement.”

(discuss Ahmad Ibrahim in our forum)

Ahmad, born 1992, is currently playing and continuing his education at Patterson High School in Texas, USA.

Websites have likened the youngster to Hedo Turkoglu in that Ahmad is similar in physical appearance and style of play.

Ahmad has the potential to become a solid player in the future, he is tall (6’7) and a full-bodied player with very good three-point accuracy.

Ibrahim has already received a lot of interest from major colleges including Arkansas, Seton Hall, Texas A&M, Missouri,and Oklahoma State and this is still with two years before going to the NCAA.

Lebanese Patriot
Ahmad Ibrahim has  not forgotten his roots; he moved from the US to Yemen in the summer of 2008 to wear the jersey of the Lebanese youth National team and there the story of his potential began.

Because he had no chance to practice with his teammates, Ahmad needed to adjust with the team and the coach used the tournament, the Waba Championships, as a chance to improve the chemistry between the players before the big event,the Asian U18 Championship which was held in Iran.

There, Ibrahim stole the show. He averaged 30 points per game with 6.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks.  It was exciting to see a teenager, two years the junior of many of his teammates, leading his team.

His performance in that tournament displayed his development, potential and leaderships skills.

After Fadi El khatib and Elie Mchantaf, Lebanon hasn’t been able to produce strong players but Ahmad has that potential; he has the talent to become Lebanon’s best player in the future.

Even at 16 years old, some experts and fans demanded that Ahmad represent the senior National Team in the Asian Championships, but Ahmad was busy with camps in Texas.

Ibrahim was recently in China when he received an invitation to participate in the Basketball without Borders camp organized by the NBA in the presence of NBA experienced players and coaches.

Ahmad Ibrahim is Lebanon’s hope for a better future.

Lebanese superstar and living legend Fadi El-Khatib has signed with Champville of the Lebanese Basketball League, leaving his club Sporting Al Riyadi Beirut.

(discuss the move in our forums)

Riyadi gave Khatib his official release today, and the 6-6 forward’s move will change the landscape of the FLB.

The 30-year has played for several clubs over the last decade of professional basketball; starting out with Sagesse Beirut in 1997.

He would play nearly seven seasons before moving on to short stints with Syrian club Al Ittihad Aleppo, Ukraine’s SK Cherkassy Monkeys, Lebanon‘s Blue Stars and then finally to Riyadi, where he has been playing for the last couple seasons.

With the recent successes of Iran, Jordan, and Lebanon, should FIBA create Middle East region?

That’s currently what is being proposed in our forum (discuss).

The proposal is to move four current European basketball nations, Israel, Turkey, Azerbijan, and Armenia, out from FIBA Europe and combine them with the three current Asian subregions – West Asia, the Gulf, and Middle-Asia.

FIBA Mideast would consist of the following 21 national teams: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbijan, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.

From there, Oceania and Asia would be combined so that Australia and New Zealand no longer had automatic bids to every major international tournament.

The Boomers and Tall Blacks would then have to duke it out with China, Korea, the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, and the remaining East Asian teams.

What do you think? Join the discussion: Hey FIBA, houldn’t there be a Middle East Basketball Region?

Title: Asia Championships of Basketball
Location: Tianjin, China
Official Website: http://china2009.fiba.com/
Description: The 2009 FIBA Asia Championships of basketball (discuss) will be held in Tianjin, China from August 6-16, 2009 with 16 teams divided into four groups.

The sixteen teams competing for the gold and a spot in the 2010 World Championships are hosts China, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Philippines, Qatar, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan.

Discuss the 2009 Asia Championships of Basketball in our forum.

Despite the absence of Yao Ming, the tournament still features many national stars in Yi Jianlian (China), Hamed Haddadi (Iran), Kim Min-Soo (Korea), Rony Fahed (Lebanon), Zaid Abbas (Jordan), Sun Yue (China), Lin Chih-chieh (Chinese-Taipei), Samad Nikkah (Iran), Fadi El-Khatib (Lebanon), Wang Zhizhi (China), Yuta Tabuse (Japan), and Tien Lei (Chinese-Taipei).

The top three teams from the four groups advance to the second round of the championship.

* Group A: Japan, Korea, Philippines, Sri Lanka.
* Group B: Chinese Taipei, Iran, Kuwait, Uzbekistan.
* Group C: China, India, Kazakhstan, Qatar.
* Group D: Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, UAE.

The top three overall teams will automatically qualify for the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey.  Even without finishing in the top three, there is still a chance to qualify for the WBC as 3-4 more teams can be selected as wild cards by FIBA to complete the 24-team field.

The final games of the 2009 Jones Cup were played last night and the standings for all nine teams have been determined – with Iran continuing their dominance in Asian play.

1. Iran (6 wins – 2 losses)
2. Jordan (7-1)
3. Lebanon (6-2)
4. Taiwan-A (6-2)
5. Korea (5-3)
6. Philippines (2-6)
7. Taiwan-B (2-6)
8. Japan (1-7)
9. Kazakhstan (1-7)

By defeating the Filipinos 85-60 on the last day of the tournament, Iran (6-2) took home the title despite Jordan having a better overall record (7-1).

The finish wasn’t without a little confusion and controversy as four teams tied.

Because of the point system that the Jones Cup uses in determining the winner,   Iran and Jordan (as well as Korea and Taiwan A) all ended with 14 points.  For each win, a team is awarded two points, for each loss a team is awarded one point.

With that Jordan should have took home their third straight title, however Jordan did not receive a point for their one loss when they decided to withdrew from their game against Iran.

In protest of Hamed Haddadi‘s actions that incited a brawl between the two teams, and the subsequent decision not to eject Haddadi from the game, Jordan refused to finish out the game and Iran was awarded the win.  The decision cost Jordan the tournament.

Jordan came into the tournament as the two-time Jones Cup defending champions, having won the 2007 and 2008  tournaments.  Recently, Mahram (Iran) had defeated Zain (Jordan) in the 2009 Asia Cup Championships.

Lebanon placed third as it beat Taiwan, who finished fourth.

Korea placed fifth with a respectable 5-3 record.  The Powerade-funded squad from the Philippines ended up with only two wins with six losses and finished in sixth place, RP’s worst finish in the annual tournament.

Rounding out the standings were Taiwan B (7th), Japan (8th), and Kazakhstan finished last with a 1-7 record.

The tournament does not determine seedings or qualifications, but is a friendly tournament to help teams prepare for the 2009 FIBA Asia Championship in August in Tianjin, China.

Taipei, Taiwan -  The 2009 Williams Jones Cup is underway.

This international tournament, held every year in Taiwan, features nine teams this year: Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and Team Kwanghwa (Taiwan).

(Discuss the 2009 Jones Cup tournament in our forum)

This year is the tournament’s 31st year,  and the diversity of the tournament is unmatched.

Since 1977, national squads, professional clubs, and university teams from all over the globe have participated in this tournament.

Past winners include national teams from West Germany, Mexico, Jordan, and Canada as well as the University of Hawaii to professional teams such as Great Mates (Australia), San Miguel Beer (Philippines), and Athletes in Action (USA).

The USA is not participating in this year’s tournament, but has won 15 of the 29 tournaments.  The national team from Jordan has taken home the trophy the last two years.

After South Africa pulled out of the tournament last minute, the 2009 Jones Cup is the first time that all the teams are from one continent.

The Women’s competition started July 12th, while the Men”s competition began the 18th of July and will end on the 26th.  The tournament is named after Renato William Jones, a well-known basketball promoter and one of the founders of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).

Links and Resources:  Jones Cup 2009 (Interbasket forum), 2009 Jones Cup Official Site (http://www.jonescup31st.com.tw/)

Jakarta, Indonesia – After defeating Al-Riyadhi of Lebanon, Iranian club Mahram will face Zain, a club from Jordan, in the Finals for the 2009 FIBA Asia Champions Cup.

(Discuss the 2009 Asian Cup tournament)

If Mahram is successful, Iran will have won three consecutive Asia Cup Championships;  Iran’s Saba Battery had won the two previous Asia Champions Cup in 2007 and 2008.

For Lebanon’s Al-Riyadhi, it was their second successive defeat at the hands of an Iranian rival in the Champions Cup semifinal, having lost to Saba Battery in last year’s tournament held in Kuwait.

Mahram is the Iranian league champions and so far has not lost a game in the tournament, compiling a 6-0 record by  defeating the Philippines’ Smart Gilas, Lebanon’s Al-Riyadhi, Al-Qadsia of Kuwait, South Korean Sangmoo Army Club and Indian Young Cagers.

Ten teams participated in the tournament that also included Satria Muda (Indonesia), Al Wasil (United Arab Emirates), and Al Arabi (Qatar).

Links and Resources: 20th FIBA Asia Champions Cup [May 12-20 Indonesia] (Interbasket), West Asian Clubs Ready To Assert Their Mastery In Asia Champions Cup (Jakarta Globe)