体坛英语新闻：FIBA confirms Olympic qualifying tournaments dates

GENEVA, May 15 (Xinhua) -- FIBA has confirmed that the rescheduled men's Olympic basketball qualifying tournaments will be played from June 29 to July 4, 2021 following discussions with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), basketball's global governing body announced on Thursday.

Players' workload, national team preparations and national league calendars were considered in FIBA's consultation process with the IOC regarding four qualifying tournaments in Canada, Croatia, Lithuania and Serbia, with those national federations having been awarded the hosting rights in 2019 by FIBA's Executive Committee.

"The IOC has exceptionally approved these dates due to these factors and also the extraordinary circumstances that have occurred with the rescheduling of the Tokyo Olympic Games," read the FIBA statement.

24 men's national teams are set to compete in four qualifying tournaments of six teams each. Seven teams have already qualified directly for the Games based on their performance at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup, along with hosts Japan.

Winners of the four tournaments will qualify for the Tokyo Games, which have been rescheduled to take place from July 23 to August 8, 2021.