Philippines Immigration Focus on Life in the Philippines: On October 16, the President of the Basketball Association of the Philippines, Manuel V. Pangilinan, revealed that the Philippines has begun preparations to bid for the 2016 Rio Olympic Men's Basketball Qualifying Tournament. Including the Philippines, six countries have decided to bid for the 2016 Rio Olympic Men's Basketball Qualifying Tournament host sites to date: Turkey, Italy, Russia, Serbia, Mexico, and the Philippines.
The final bidding results will be announced on November 23. Three countries will be awarded the hosting rights for the qualifying tournaments. At the time the host cities are announced, the teams participating in the qualifying tournaments and the respective competition schedules will also be released.
Due to the implementation of new rules for the Olympic Men's Basketball Qualifying Tournament, the number of participating teams has expanded to 18. These include the 3rd-5th place teams from the FIBA Americas Championship (Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico), the runner-up from the FIBA Oceania Championship (New Zealand), the 2nd-4th place teams from the FIBA Africa Championship (Angola, Tunisia, and Senegal), the 2nd-4th place teams from the FIBA Asia Championship (Philippines, Iran, and Japan), and the 3rd-7th place teams from the FIBA EuroBasket (France, Serbia, Greece, Italy, and the Czech Republic). In addition to these 15 teams, the other 3 wildcard spots will be filled by the three hosts of the qualifying tournaments. The Olympic qualifying tournament will feature 18 teams competing for 3 spots, and the competition will be extremely intense.
