According to reports in the country, the Israel Basketball Association has applied to stage one of the events as well as part of the 2017 edition of EuroBasket.

Eighteen countries who just missed out on advancing automatically to Rio through continental competitions will be given a second bite of the cherry at the qualifying tournaments in July, when they will be split into three groups of six in three different venues.

The winners of the three tournaments will gain an Olympic berth and as the host nation are allowed to compete, it gives countries who have previously been eliminated from contention another chance of reaching Rio.

Israel were knocked out in the last 16 of this year's Eurobasket by Italy, which wasn't good enough to keep Olympic hopes alive.

However, hosting a tournament would put them back in the frame.

So far, France, Serbia, Greece, Italy, the Czech Republic, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Angola, Tunisia, Senegal and New Zealand have confirmed places in the qualifying events.

World champions the United States and hosts Brazil have both qualified automatically along with African champions Nigeria and Oceania champions Australia.

Americas champions Venezuela and runners-up Argentina, and EuroBasket 2015 champions Spain and runners-up Lithuania are also confirmed for Rio. 



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