Not only did Canada Basketball announce today that ticket packages for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments 2020 hosted in Victoria are soon on sale – there will also be a very familiar face of basketball visiting our city to celebrate.
Nav Bhatia – the superfan who gained popularity during the Toronto Raptors legendary playoff run – will be touching down in Victoria to commemorate the launch of FIBA’s ticket sales for the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments 2020 happening here in June.
He will be joined by MLA Rob Fleming as well as basketball players from Oak Bay High School, and will be delivering a talk on the power of sports to promote social belonging and leadership. Bhatia will also invite the players to partake in a brief scrimmage.
Tickets for the FIBA tournament – which will take place June 23rd – June 28th at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre – will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. PST on Friday, January 31st. The winner of the tournament will qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games.
Canada will face Greece and China in Group A, while Uruguay, Czech Republic and Turkey have been drawn into Group B.
Each team will play the other two teams in its own group amounting to two games for each team. The top two teams in each group will advance to the semifinals. The two semifinal winners will advance to the winner-takes-all final for the remaining Olympic spot.
All games will be played at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre – check out the full tournament schedule below:
June 23rd:
Group A – Game 1: Greece versus Canada
Group B – Game 2: Uruguay versus Turkey
June 24th:
Group A – Game 3: Canada versus China
Group B – Game 4: Turkey versus Czech Republic
June 25th:
Group A – Game 5: China versus Greece
Group B – Game 6: Czech Republic versus Uruguay
June 27th:
Game 7: Semifinal game #1 (1st A versus 2nd B)
Game 8: Semifinal game #2 (1st B versus 2nd A)
June 28th:
Final: (Winner Game 7 versus Winner Game 8) with winner advancing to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (July 24 – August 9, 2020)
Tickets and details
In addition to Canada (Victoria), the National Federations of Croatia (Split), Lithuania (Kaunas) and Serbia (Belgrade) will also host FIBA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.
Canada is looking to return to the Olympics for the first time since 2000.
9 game ticket packages range from $270 ($30 per game) to $1,350 ($150 per game) plus service charges, and they can be purchased online.
$2 from each ticket will also go towards to the tournament’s not-for-profit legacy fund to be reinvested in the promotion of sport development, social, cultural, economic and community development enhancements in Victoria and across the Capital Region.
The Friends of Victoria Basketball Society, a not-for-profit society, is the local organizing committee responsible for the planning and delivery of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament and related celebrations.
