MADRID, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup tips off on Saturday on the Spanish island of Tenerife (Canary Islands) with 16 top teams in the world battling it out for glory.
There is little doubt that the 2014 world champions and 2016 Olympic gold medalists, the USA are very much the clear favorites to retain their crown and win an incredible 12th world title.
However, they will face stiff opposition from the Spanish, who as well as counting on home support, finished runners-up four years ago in Turkey and claimed the silver medal in Rio two years ago.
Spain qualified for the tournament as hosts with Australia, South Korea, Japan and China qualifying from Asia.
The Australians are looking to repeat their 2006 world title and with power forward Liz Cambage expected to be one of the stars of the show, they are considered a good bet for a medal in Tenerife, while China will look to build on the performance which saw them fail to make it out of the group stage in Rio.
With the USA in the same group as the Chinese, everything could depend on the result of their opening game which sees them face Latvia.
As well as the USA, Argentina, who are always competitive, Puerto Rico and Canada make up the representatives from the Americas. The Canadians can count of players such as Kia Nurse, Raincock-Ekunwe and Miranda Ayim and after progressing in recent years could also have a good chance of fighting for a medal.
The two African representatives, Nigeria and Senegal will probably struggle to qualify from their groups, but hopes are high that Nigeria will win their first ever match in the final stage and Senegal could be a threat to both Latvia and China.
Finally, France, Greece, Belgium (bronze in the last European Championships) and Latvia complete the European contingent with the French and Sandrine Gruda tipped to make their physical presence felt.
The competition starts with four groups of four, with the top two of each group qualifying for the quarterfinals. Enditem
