Olympic Newsdesk - FIBA Worlds Wide Open; Two Years To London Paralympics

FIBA Field Missing Its Stars

International Basketball Federation president Bob Elphinston tells Around the Rings ahead of Saturday’s tip-off that the FIBA World Championship is anyone’s to win.

"It’ll be a very competitive one," he said. "There are probably six or eight teams that are all capable of playing in the semifinals and even being a champion."

Elphinston told ATR he is confident Turkey, a country with four NBA players and 70 million people, will host the best tournament ever.

"They’re a strong country," he said, "and they’re doing very well in European basketball in all age groups. It’s a good opportunity."

Depth of field isn’t the only reason this year’s title is so up-in-the-air. Each of the top five ranked teams will be without its stars.

Top-ranked Argentina is missing Spurs sixth-man Manu Ginobili and 76ers forward Andres Nocioni, leaders of the country’s 2004 gold medal-winning campaign.

The U.S. won’t have a single member of its Olympic champion Redeem Team from Beijing.

Spain is without Laker great Pau Gasol and Raptors guard Jose Calderon, who tore his hamstring Sunday in a last-second exhibition loss to Team USA.

A bench-clearing brawl last week between members of fourth-ranked Greece and fifth-ranked Serbia is sure to impact this weekend’s games.

FIBA announced Friday two-game suspensions for Antonis Fotsis and Sofoklis Schortsanitis of Greece and Milos Teodosic of Serbia as well as a three-game suspension for Thunder center Nenad Krstic, who threw a chair at Greek players during the exhibition game in Athens.

Play begins Saturday at four sites throughout Turkey. The 24-team field is divided into four groups of six for a week of prelims. After a day of rest, the remaining 16 teams will stay in Istanbul for elimination rounds. The final game is slated for Sept. 12.

Two Years Until London 2012 Paralympics

The time is now to plan your Paralympic Games, London 2012 organizers told the UK public Friday.

"Whether it’s buying a ticket, becoming a volunteer, being part of our education or culture programs or cheering on the Paralympic Torch relay – there are many, many of ways you can get involved," LOCOG chair Sebastian Coe said in a statement.

"Don’t wait - to ensure you don’t miss out, start planning your Games now."

A host of weekend events celebrates the two-years-to-go mark until the Aug. 29 – Sept. 9 competition.

LOCOG director of Paralympic integration Chris Holmes and Paralympic mascot Mandeville stopped by the ParalympicsGB training camp in Bath Thursday to check the progress of top UK Paralympic athletes.

Mandeville’s busy weekend spills into next week with Monday appearances at the official London 2012 shop at St. Pancras station and the John Lewis flagship store to debut his new product line.

Channel 4 will launch its Paralympic programming two years early to honor the two-years-to-go mark. "Inside Incredible Athletes," a documentary profiling seven of Britain’s Paralympic hopefuls, airs Sunday.

Sainsbury’s, a Tier One Partner of the Games, will reveal a famous Paralympic champion athlete as its first Paralympic ambassador. The grocery giant will also launch Mandeville products at 78 of its supermarkets across the UK.

"Preparations for the Paralympics are well on track," Olympics minister Hugh Robertson said in the statement.

"The athletes are training hard; Mandeville is educating children across the country about the Paralympic movement and disabled artists are making their mark through the Unlimited program."

Robertson also took the time to reflect Thursday upon the meaning of his nation’s maiden Paralympic Games.

"Even though Britain has such a strong connection to the Paralympics, 2012 will be the first time ever the UK has hosted an official Paralympic Games," he wrote.

"So it is fitting that as the Paralympics come home, London will be the biggest event ever."

The 12-day Games will feature 4,200 athletes from 150 countries competing in 500 events. Twenty venues across the U.K. will host the program’s 20 Paralympic sports.

"London 2012 is re-writing the handbook when it comes to organizing a Paralympics," Robertson wrote.

"For the first time, preparations for the Olympic and Paralympic competitions have been integrated ensuring continuity between the two events for athletes and spectators. Furthermore, our legacy plans have received backing from the International Paralympic Committee who see it as a benchmark for future Games."

Katarina Witt Welcomes YOG Experience

German figure skating great Katarina Witt heads home from Singapore with good feelings about the inaugural Youth Olympic Games.

"I would have been so excited to come to the Youth Olympics if they had been around when I was a competitor," Witt told Around the Rings during the two weeks she spent in Singapore.

Witt says potential Winter Olympians should benefit from going to the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games set for Innsbruck.

Now 44, Witt won gold at the 1984 and 1988 Winter Games.

She is chair of the Munich bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics, which occupied part of her time in Singapore. She also provided daily reporting for German TV network ARD.

"What has made the Youth Olympic Games so special is the opportunity it has given an entire generation of young people to learn that being a champion is about so much more than medals," said Witt in a statement from the Munich bid at the close of the Games.

Youth-driven Annecy Learns from YOG

Annecy 2018 is on the right track, bid chairman Edgar Grospiron says after his time at the YOG in Singapore.

"As it seems quite natural for a bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic games to be driven by sportsmen and women, by Olympic Champions or medallists, it is no less natural to bring on board the public, particularly the younger generations, in our vision of the Games," he said in a statement.

"The YOG confirmed to us that we are heading in the right direction with our bid. Young people are at the very heart of our project; they are our greatest asset, in Singapore, in Annecy, in France and throughout the world."

The bid announced last week a campaign to mobilize a million youngsters from the surrounding area in support of its efforts to secure the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Judo Olympic Qualifying Underway

Miami is the judo capital of the world this weekend.

More than 300 judoka from 30 countries converge on the Doral Golf Resort & Spa for three top international events in just four days.

Athletes from seven men’s and seven women’s weight divisions will vie for London 2012 spots during Judo World Cup Friday and Saturday.

The U.S. Open takes place Sunday followed by the Central/North American Championships, a qualifying event for the 2011 Pan American Games, on Monday.

Flooding Cancels Squash Tourney

Historic flooding in Pakistan has forced the Professional Squash Association to cancel a top World Tour event.

The CAS International was slated for next month in Islamabad.

The month-long disaster has killed an estimated 1,600 Pakistanis and displaced millions more.

Media Watch

USA Todaysports media expert Mike Hiestand muses on the impact of an 18-game NFL season upon Sochi 2014. A later Super Bowl would fall smack-dab in the middle of the Winter Games, he explains, seriously devaluing the U.S. TV rights fee the IOC stands to collect from whichever network bites.

Written by Matthew Grayson.