The men's tournament - comprising of 12 national teams competing for the last three Olympic berths – will take place in Venezuela's capital, Caracas, from July 2 until 8, 2012

The women's tournament, meanwhile, will be take place in the Turkish capital of Ankara between June 25 and July 1, 2012, with 12 teams battling for the five remaining place at London.

The occasion will be the first time Venezuela have hosted a major international basketball tournament, although their men's team have already secured qualification after finishing fifth in the 2011 FIBA Americas in Argentina.

It will be the first time that Turkey has hosted a major women's international basketball tournament since EuroBasket Women 2005.

The Turks organised the 2010 edition of the men's FIBA World Championship and have been awarded the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women.

In the men's tournament, Angola, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, FYR of Macedonia, Greece, Jordan, Korea, Lithuania, New Zealand, Nigeria, Puerto Rico and Russia will compete.

The women's tournament is between Argentina, Turkey, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Japan, Korea, Mali, Mozambique, New Zealand and Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico and Mozambique replaced Cuba and Senegal, who both withdrew.

The Olympic Qualifying Tournament was first introduced in 1960.

It was played according to a variety of formats until it was discontinued in 1992 before being reintroduced in 2008, and took place in Athens where Croatia, Germany and Greece booked the final three places on offer for the Beijing Olympics.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
November 2011: Worldwide interest to host FIBA London 2012 qualifying events