Great Britain have continued their ascent up the FIBA World Rankings following the London 2012 Olympics, with both the men and women’s team breaking into the world’s top 25.
GB men are now ranked number 23 in the world, having moved up 20 spots, whilst the women are placed 24th, seeing an increase of 25 places.
The rankings are based on an eight-year cycle and includes two FIBA World Championships, two Olympic Games and four of every continental championships (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania).
Whenever a new championship is played, the oldest championship of that category is dropped. Despite there being many flaws in the ranking system (read about how they are calculated here), it is often referred to by the British press and any improvement by GB should only serve the team well.
Even though the team only won a single game, FIBA’s Secretary General Patrick Baumann, feels GB didn’t disappoint in their home town games:
“I think the British (men’s) team didn’t let us down.
“It’s always hard to come to the Olympics for the first time and even try to win a game.
“They won a game (against China) but also they lost very narrowly in a couple of other games (to Brazil and Spain) and they will be a force to be reckoned with in the years to come and certainly given that the financing will continue for the next four years, they should have a good chance qualifying for Rio 2016.
“That’s something very positive because having basketball grow in this market is something we’ve all been looking forward to.”
The news comes two days after England Basketball and basketballscotland formally signed an agreement with FIBA which, from 2016, will see each affiliate to the world International Federation FIBA through the British Federation and represent internationally as Great Britain.
Thoughts? Let us know in the comments!
Image Credit: Mansoor Ahmed Photography
You'll probably like these :
Follow Us
Join the 8000+ others who follow Hoopsfix and subscribe.
Loading ...
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
they shouldnt give gb points for a tournament they couldnt even qualify to in sports results…when deng will stop playing they will soon be back to place number 100
haha so beating china and going 1-4 is enough to climb 30 places? what a joke…eurobasket should count for more than olympics with such weak ass teams like gb, tunisia, nigeria, china etc what a joke
As has been mentioned several times, this will happen only provided Scotland does not vote for independence in 2014.
It is most probable that the result of any straightforward vote (i.e. Yes or No) will be to remain part of the UK. However if there is a No vote, then there can not be a GB as such.
Eurobasket 2013 is also pretty significant for GB as the top 6 teams will then qualify for the 2014 World Baskteball Cup in Spain. Let’s hope Deng & Freeland don’t take next summer off and their insurances can be sorted. Hopefully by then DVO will get even more experience under his belt also.
britain just got destroyed at the olympics, completely outclassed (please dont talk about spain game..they were in 10th gear and you still lost), the last time deng will probably play for them, and you think they could finish in top 6 in eurobasket, which is tougher than the olympics!! hahahaha either you are crazy or have no idea about european basketball…if your starting shooting guard plays in the british league and your other guys play in some division 2 ncaa colleges or the czech second division you should just give up now…..hahah top 6 finish …above who?? spain? russia?lithua nia?france?serbia?greece?turkey? slovenia?croatia?italy? even in friendlies you have never beaten any of these teams with deng…without…?just give up
Antonio your comments are extremely stupid. If every country that wasn’t good enough for the Olympics just “gave up” then basketball would be a great global sport wouldn’t it? The more countries that play basketball the better, and your pessimistic nonsense about a team in its first ever Olympics is just ludicrous. Why would this be the last time Deng plays? He has played in extremely low-level competitions when GB was taking its first steps on the ladder, so why would he jump ship during the peak of his career when GB are the best they’ve been, against the best competition they’ve faced? Are we to assume you’re from a country who’s basketball team has never been “outclassed” before? Because such a country does not exist.
Antonio
You seem like a complete idiot and are just coming on to a Brittish website and are trying to provoke the Brittish Basketball fraternity.
I would love the opportunity to meet with you face to face and have you insult my country, my sport and the people that are passionate about developing it here in the UK.
If you have a positive comment or some constructive comments about Brittish Basketball, by all means we would love to hear them, but if all you want to do is insult us then go away.