Serbian basketball kicked off their bid for a return spot in the Olympics on the right foot.
Boban Marjanovic had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and the Serbs, winners of the silver medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, began their Olympic qualification on Tuesday with a 94-76 victory in the first game over the Dominican Republic.
The game was tied 69-69 early in the fourth quarter; Serbia, which is hosting one of the qualifying tournaments in Belgrade, edged the Dominicans 25-7 for the remainder of the match.
“Sure, we are proud,” declared Marjanovic. “Everyone who came here wants to qualify for the Olympics, the most important thing. They are all fighting for that place, they all play hard, well, and I am proud of my team because we did not give in in this game ”.
Four qualifying tournaments take place. Canada, Serbia, Lithuania and Croatia are hosts in order to determine the last four places for the 12 participants in the Tokyo Olympics. The four qualifiers will be determined on Sunday. Filip Petrusev scored 17 points and Vasilije Micic 16 for Serbia.
“As expected, it was a difficult match,” said Servia coach Igor Kokoskov.
Michael Torres Cuevas and Víctor Liz each scored 16 points for the Dominican Republic.
Fojas: Serbia 1-0, Dominican Republic 0-1
On Wednesday, Serbia faces the Philippines. On Thursday, the Dominican Republic plays the Philippines.
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Lithuania 76, Venezuela 65
Jonas Valanciunas scored 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting and captured 11 boards for Lithuania. Domantas Sabonis and Mantas Kalnietis each had 12 points for Lithuania, which closed the first half with an 8-0 offense to break the tie and go ahead for the rest of the game.
David Cubillan got 11 points for Venezuela.
Fojas: Lithuania 1-0, Venezuela 0-1.
Venezuela plays on Wednesday against Korea. Lithuania faces Korea on Thursday.
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Germany 82, Mexico 76
Germany unleashed an 18-3 offense in the fourth quarter to come back and Mexico missed 10 consecutive field goals. Joshiko Saibou was the Teutons’ leading scorer with 17 points. Francisco Cruz was the best scorer of the match with 30 points for Mexico.
Foja: Germany 1-0, Mexico 0-1.
Mexico faces Russia on Wednesday and Germany plays Russia on Thursday.
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Brazil 83, Tunisia 57
Vítor Benite scored 15 points and Brazil took off on the scoreboard in the last three periods for a simple victory in their opener.
Oussama Marnaoui scored 13 goals for Tunisia. The game was tied 21-21 at the start of the period and Brazil was never down on the scoreboard.
Foja: Brazil 1-0, Tunisia 0-1.
Brazil faces Croatia on Wednesday, and Tunisia plays Croatia on Thursday.
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Poland 83, Angola 64
Mateusz Ponitka scored 22 points in 23 minutes, AJ Slaughter had 16 and Poland had little trouble in their opening game. Angola was up 19-18 at the end of the first period. Poland took over and scored 28 of the next 40 points in the match. Yanick Moreira scored 27 points for Angola, the highest figure among the participants.
Foja: Polonia 1-0, Angola 0-1.
Angola will face Slovenia on Wednesday and Poland will take on Slovenia on Thursday.
