Diaz leads Venezuela past Nigeria at worlds

Victor Diaz scored 24 points Sunday to lead Venezuela to an 84-77 win over Nigeria at the world basketball championship.

Real Brazil shows up in win over Qatar

Coach Xavier "Lulu" Ferreira says the real Brazil showed up Sunday at the world basketball championship.

Arroyo powers Puerto Rico past Senegal 88-79

Carlos Arroyo scored 29 points and hit the first of three straight 3-pointers during the game's decisive run Sunday, leading Puerto Rico to an 88-79 victory over Senegal at the basketball world championships.

Yao fails to save China from opening loss

NBA All-star center Yao Ming scored a game-high 30 points, but failed to stop China from losing to Italy 84-69 in their opening match at the 2006 World Men's Basketball Championship kicking off in Japan on Saturday.

World Championships 1st day

Australia beat Brazil 83-77

US cruise past Puerto Rico 111-100

Carmelo Anthony led the way with 21 points as the United States cruised past Puerto Rico 111-100 in their world basketball championship opener on Saturday.

Mark Dickel suspended until Aug 21

FIBA has decided to suspend basketball player Mark Dickel of New Zealand until and including August 21, 2006.

Nowitzki's 27 lifts Germany win over Japan 81-70

Dirk Nowitzki scored 27 points as Germany struggled but survived a dog-fight with Japan to open the FIBA World Championship with a 81-70 victory over the tournament hosts.

Parker ruled out of FIBA World Championship with injury

France point guard Tony Parker was on Friday ruled out of the FIBA World Championship with a broken finger.

Spain, Germany having trouble avoiding each other

Spain and Germany may not face off until Monday at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan, but neither of the favourites in Group B could avoid being asked about the other after the first days of practices in Hiroshima.

Germans put Greece blowout behind them

German national team coach Dirk Bauermann said his team has put behind them their blowout loss to Greece in the final of the Stankovic Cup, which also served as the final warmup to the 2006 FIBA World Championship.