Lithuania, Brazil and Czech Republic move up the order in FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike, after first Qualifiers

MIES, Switzerland - The FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike, has been updated following the November 2017 games of the FIBA Basketball Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers.

(click here to view the full ranking)

Lithuania, on the strengths of convincing wins away at Kosovo (99-61) and over Poland (75-55), move up one place, from sixth to fifth.

Brazil also jump one spot, from 10th to ninth on the back of coming out on top in both of their games, beating Chile at home (86-73) and getting the better of Venezuela (72-60) in Rio.

Puerto Rico and Mexico registered identical 1-1 marks in their Americas Qualifiers but switched places in the ranking, with the former moving up to 14 and the latter dropping to 15. This illustrates how margins of victory and defeat are among the factors taken into consideration as part of the ranking's new system.

Czech Republic moved up three places to 26th after beating Iceland at home (89-69) and earning an impressive away at Finland (64-56). Right on their heels are Georgia (27th) and Poland (28th) after both split their two games in the European Qualifiers.

The high cost of losing at home was demonstrated by New Zealand, with the Tall Blacks dropping three places to 30th as a consequence of being edged out by Korea in Wellington (86-80).

Iraq moved up two places to 83rd thanks to an upset of Asian powerhouse Iran (74-66). 

Finally, there are special mentions for Syria and Chad.

The Syrians moved up five places to 93rd after convincingly beating India in Bengaluru (74-57), while the Chadians jumped up six spots to 111th thanks to a resounding win over Guinea (85-51).

The FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike, will be updated following the February 2018 games of the World Cup 2019 Qualifiers.

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