Antonio Vrankovic dressed, but did not play in Croatia's 79-62 EuroBasket qualifier win over Turkey. Shane Larkin made his debut as a naturalized player as Turkey tried everything to win this game, but it was not enough.
http://www.fiba.basketball/eurobaske...y#tab=boxscore
The other Group D game was also played in the single site in Istanbul and the Netherlands edged Sweden to improve their chances.
http://www.fiba.basketball/eurobaske...n#tab=boxscore
Standings: Croatia 3-0, Netherlands 2-1, Sweden 1-2, Turkey 0-3
Group C was played in Vilnius and Belgium stayed perfect with a 90-62 win over the Czech Republic. Lithuania figured that they had enough firepower to win at home, but were stunned by Denmark 80-76.
http://www.fiba.basketball/eurobaske...m#tab=boxscore
http://www.fiba.basketball/eurobaske...k#tab=boxscore
Standings: Belgium 3-0, Lithuania 1-2, Denmark 1-2, Czech Republic 1-2
Pau is the host for Group G and France used a fast start at home to beat Great Britain 79-56. Montenegro beat Germany 80-74 to give themselves the advantage heading into the second half of play.
http://www.fiba.basketball/eurobaske...e#tab=boxscore
http://www.fiba.basketball/eurobaske...o#tab=boxscore
Standings: France 2-1, Montenegro 2-1, Great Britain 1-2, Germany 1-2
Sarajevo is the site for Group H. Latvia picked up their first win 77-66 over Greece. Hosts Bosnia and Herzegovina took care of business in an 88-49 win over Bulgaria.
http://www.fiba.basketball/eurobaske...a#tab=boxscore
http://www.fiba.basketball/eurobaske...a#tab=boxscore
Standings: Greece 2-1, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-1, Bulgaria 1-2, Latvia 1-2
The day started with games in Asia as their qualifiers were also affected in February by virus postponements. Lebanon started the day with a 115-60 win over. Basketball is a big deal in that country, but that has the occasional negative effect of basketball and politics mixing and dysfunction in either crossing over to the other, which means that the league there has been stopped for months, but at least they were able to play here. Group D hosts Bahrain prevailed 95-92 in overtime against Iraq.
http://www.fiba.basketball/asiacup/2...n#tab=boxscore
http://www.fiba.basketball/asiacup/2...n#tab=boxscore
Standings: Lebanon 3-0, Bahrain 2-1, India 1-2, Iraq 0-3
No East Asia teams were willing to host so Manama will also host Group A games. South Korea declined to play their scheduled games while the other East Asia groups and West Asia Group F are not playing at this time. The Philippines could not field their pro players, who were playing their league in a bubble, so field a team of college players who will soon run out of eligibility and have to take pay cuts. Furthermore, local regulations restricted young people officially so there was drama about whether they could practice, but they beat Thailand, which was also not at their best due to local regulations, 93-61.
http://www.fiba.basketball/asiacup/2...d#tab=boxscore
Kigali is hosting multiple groups, so play in Africa started on Wednesday. Senegal beat Kenya 92-54 in the first game. Angola then defeated their big rivals Mozambique 87-58.
http://www.fiba.basketball/afrobaske...#|tab=boxscore
http://www.fiba.basketball/afrobaske...#|tab=boxscore
On Thursday, Group B play continued with Angola beating Kenya 83-66. Mozambique did make it closer later against Senegal, but lost 60-53.
http://www.fiba.basketball/afrobaske...#|tab=boxscore
http://www.fiba.basketball/afrobaske...l#tab=boxscore
The group finished play this window on Friday as Kenya beat Mozambique 79-62. Senegal leads the group at the halfway point after a 66-51 win over Angola.
http://www.fiba.basketball/afrobaske...a#tab=boxscore
http://www.fiba.basketball/afrobaske...a#tab=boxscore
Standings: Senegal 3-0, Angola 2-1, Kenya 1-2, Mozambique 0-3
Group D is also using Kigali as a base so they started on Thursday. Luol Deng made his coaching debut against Michael Gbinije and Nigeria, a 76-56 loss for South Sudan. Gbinije had 2 points in 23 minutes. Hosts Rwanda played their first game, losing to Mali 70-64.
http://www.fiba.basketball/afrobaske...#|tab=boxscore
http://www.fiba.basketball/afrobaske...a#tab=boxscore
Group A is the last batch in Kigali. Tunisia rolled past Madagascar 89-52. The Democratic Republic of Congo was allergic to scoring in the final quarter, but fended off the Central African Republic 55-51.
http://www.fiba.basketball/afrobaske...r#tab=boxscore
http://www.fiba.basketball/afrobaske...o#tab=boxscore
Egypt is hosting Group E in Alexandria and opened with a 96-77 win over Uganda. Cape Verde, which won the tournament to take this spot, beat Morocco 80-73.
http://www.fiba.basketball/afrobaske...a#tab=boxscore
http://www.fiba.basketball/afrobaske...e#tab=boxscore
Both groups in the southern half of Americas qualification are playing in Buenos Aires. Brazil beat Panama 77-71 to lead the group at the halfway point. Uruguay beat their local rivals Paraguay 97-77 to also be in a good position.
http://www.fiba.basketball/americup/...a#tab=boxscore
http://www.fiba.basketball/americup/...y#tab=boxscore
Standings: Brazil 3-0, Panama 2-1, Uruguay 1-2, Paraguay 0-3
Venezuela fended off rivals Colombia 73-69. Argentina had homecourt advantage, but still had a tough time with Chile before doing enough in the second half to win 67-61.
http://www.fiba.basketball/americup/...a#tab=boxscore
http://www.fiba.basketball/americup/...e#tab=boxscore
Standings: Venezuela 2-1, Argentina 2-1, Chile 1-2, Colombia 1-2
I was being a little flippant. I am sure that other people had input in the decision. He was earlier named President of South Sudan's federation with part of his responsibility to get players eligible for the team who moved to places like the United States, Canada, and Australia to want to play for the team.