VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA - The Greece men's national basketball team, led by Iona College men's basketball head coach Rick Pitino, begins its quest for a spot in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan tonight at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Six nations compete for one spot at Tokyo 2020 with group play tipping off at Victoria Memorial Arena.
 
Greece is joined by tournament host Canada along with China, Czech Republic, Turkey and Uruguay. Greece, China and Canada represent group A. After two games in group play, the top two teams in each group reach the semifinal round. The last team standing earns the coveted bid to Tokyo. Greece is looking to qualify for the Olympics for the first time since 2008.
 
Greece takes on Canada tonight (June 29) at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. Following a day off Wednesday, they take on China at 7 p.m. Thursday (July 1). The semifinal round is slated for Saturday (July 3) and championship game Sunday (July 4).
 
READ: Game Preview on FIBA.com
 
Coach Pitino's Greek squad currently holds the No. 6 spot in the FIBA World Basketball Ranking but faces a tough task ahead with the talented players among the countries competing in Canada. The Greeks look to qualify without the services of former NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is unavailable due to his participation in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals with the Milwaukee Bucks. In addition, Greek basketball legend Vassilis Spanoulis announced his retirement, just a couple days ago.
 
Kostas Antetokounmpo headlines the Greek roster. The 23-year-old, 6-10 small forward and brother of Giannis played the 2020-21 campaign with the Los Angeles Lakers. The remainder of the Greek roster consists of a talented group of EuroLeague and Greek League standouts including 7-1 center Georgios Papagiannis who played for Coach Pitino with Panathinaikos two seasons ago.
 
Canada is led by Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse and a roster that includes eight NBA players. Golden State Warriors guard Andrew Wiggins and New York Knicks Guard R.J. Barrett are among the standouts representing the Canadians.
 
The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 produced seven directly qualified teams for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Japan received automatic qualification as the hosts of the event. The four remaining places in the 12-team Tokyo 2020 Olympic field are reserved for the winners of each of the four FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments held in Victoria, Canada; Kaunas, Lithuania; Split, Croatia; and Belgrade, Serbia. Greece advanced to the second-round group stage at the World Cup in 2019.
 
Check out Greece live tonight at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ and Coach Pitino on the post event press conference hosted by FIBA.com.