Basketball: Tall Blacks handed tough draw to reach Rio

Corey Webster. Photo / Getty

Basketball New Zealand is close to confirming several friendlies for the Tall Blacks before their last chance Olympic qualification tournament.

The Tall Blacks have been drawn to a six nations qualifying tournament in Manilla in July, alongside France, Philippines, Turkey, Senegal and Canada.

Only the winner of the tournament earns a spot at the Rio Olympics.

Basketball NZ boss Iain Potter says the Tall Blacks will travel to Europe for several warm up games before the tournament.

Potter says they have tentative arrangements, and quite a few countries are keen, including Lithuania who are already booked for the Olympics.

The Tall Ferns will also head to Europe for several games before their qualifying tournament in June.