Field completed for Olympic women's basketball tournament

BEIJING - The list of 12 teams to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games has been finalized following the conclusion of the FIBA women's Olympic qualifying tournaments.

The 12 participants are Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Japan, South Korea, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Serbia, Spain and the United States.

Belgium and Puerto Rico are set for their maiden Olympic appearances.

Under the current FIBA competition system, the top three finishers in each qualifying tournament are awarded tickets to the Tokyo Olympics.

Despite having already earned automatic qualification, Olympic hosts Japan and the 2018 FIBA World Cup champions the United States still need to play in qualifiers, with 10 remaining Olympic berths up for grabs in the qualifiers held in Belgrade, Bourges and Ostend.

China topped Group B in Belgrade with a perfect record despite the loss of its home advantage due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, seeing the competition relocated from the southern Chinese city of Foshan. China inflicted a rare defeat on world No 3 Spain on its way to the Olympics.

China's Li Meng received the MVP award along with Emma Meesseman (Belgium), Sandrine Gruda (France) and Nneka Ogwumike (USA).

The 2020 Tokyo women's Olympic basketball tournament will take place from July 27 to August 9.

The draw for the event will be held on March 21.

The 12 participating sides will be divided into three groups of four teams each, with top two teams in each group and the two best third-placed teams in the group phase advancing to the last eight.