The first quarter of the contest proved to be a close affair between the third place finishes at the 2015 FIBA Asian Championship and the fifth place finisher at last year’s EuroBasket.

Having held a narrow 29-25 advantage heading into the second quarter, Greece were able to score 10 unanswered points through impressive efforts from Giannis Athinaiou, Evangelos Mantzaris and Ioannis Bourousis.

The Greek team eventually headed into half-time with a 48-31 lead and they continued to pull away in the final two quarters to seal at 78-53 victory.

The result places them at the top of Group A in their qualifying tournament, leaving Iran needing a victory in their tie with Mexico tomorrow to give them a realistic chance of making the semi-finals.

Turkey were beaten 68-41 by hosts Italy in Group B of the competition, with the victors closing in on earning one of the two semi-final places available.

There was a convincing victory for Latvia at the second qualification tournament in Belgrade, as European side brushed aside the challenge of Japan in Group B.

Dairis Bertans proved the star for the Latvian team after scoring 20 points in the contest, which helped his side record an 88-48 win.

Should they defeat the Czech Republic tomorrow, Latvia would secure their place in the semi-finals of the competition.

Hosts Serbia, who finished fourth at last year’s EuroBasket, secured a thrilling 87-81 victory over Puerto Rico at the Kombank Arena to top the Group A standings, with their opponents now facing a crucial tie against Angola tomorrow.

Turkey, Senegal and Canada are preparing to meet in Group A of the third qualifying tournament in Manila.

The Philippines are due to take on France and New Zealand in Group B in front of their home fans.

The top two countries in each group in each tournament will advance to the semi-finals.

The winners of each event will fill the three remaining places in the basketball tournament at Rio 2016.