Tall Blacks seeded with China, Iran, Angola

The New Zealand Tall Blacks have been seeded with China, Iran and Angola in line five ahead of the 2010 FIBA World Championship draw tomorrow night.

FIBA released seedings this morning for the 16^th world championship, to be held in Turkey from August 28-September 12, guaranteeing the Tall Blacks will not be grouped with China, Iran, Angola or Oceania rivals Australia when the draw takes place at 10.30pm (NZ time).

New Zealand have not received much benefit from being FIBA Oceania champions, as Australia, who the Tall Blacks beat 100-78 in August, join Brazil, Puerto Rico and Canada in line three.

Olympic champions USA, world champions Spain, Argentina and Greece form line one, while Serbia, Slovenia, France and Turkey fill line two. Croatia, Russia, Lithuania and Germany make up line four and Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and Ivory Coast are line six.

FIBA said the seedings for FIBA competitions follow the same basic principles: the groups of the first round are balanced in terms of sporting competitiveness; and the draw ensures each group there is a balanced representation from the five continents.

That leaves New Zealand with a worst-case scenario of drawing USA, hosts Turkey, Americas champion Brazil, nemesis Germany and Asia bronze medallists Jordan. A best-case scenario would be drawing Greece, Slovenia, Canada, Lithuania and Tunisia.

The draw for the 2010 FIBA World Championship can be followed live on www.fibatv.com.

Seedings for the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey, August 28-September 12:

(World rankings in brackets)

Line One - USA (2), Argentina (1), Spain (3), Greece (4)
Line Two - Serbia (5), Slovenia (20), France (15), Turkey (18)
Line Three - Brazil (14), Puerto Rico (10), Canada (19), Australia (11)
Line Four - Croatia (15), Russia (17), Lithuania (6), Germany (7)
Line Five - New Zealand (13), China (9), Iran (21), Angola (12)
Line Six - Jordan (37), Lebanon (24), Tunisia (42), Ivory Coast (40)

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