Lithuania up to No. 3 in latest FIBA Ranking Men; Venezuela hit No. 22

MIES (FIBA World Ranking Men) - The continental basketball championships staged this summer have led to some changes in the FIBA World Ranking Men.

The idle United States retained top spot and EuroBasket 2015 winners Spain remained second, however, there was a change at No. 3 with Lithuania leapfrogging Argentina into that position.

The Lithuanians got huge performances from All-Star Five selections Jonas Maciulis and Jonas Valanciunas and again made a strong run to the championship game of EuroBasket 2015 before losing to Spain, 80-63.

Argentina fell a rung despite making it to the FIBA Americas Championship title game, which they lost to Venezuela.

The only other movement in the top 10 has seen Serbia swap places with Russia, with the former now sixth and the latter seventh.

Serbia came in fourth at EuroBasket 2015 while Russia were 17th.

Angola got to within a single victory of defending their AfroBasket title but lost to a very impressive Nigeria, 74-65, in the title clash.

The Angolans have risen a place to No. 15, moving above Puerto Rico, who dropped to 16th after their fifth-place finish at the FIBA Americas Championship.

The Dominican Republic only managed sixth place in Mexico City but have risen two spots to No. 18 in the ranking.

They swapped places with Germany, the Group B hosts at EuroBasket 2015, who ended up 18th in the 24-team event.

Americas champions Venezuela are the biggest movers in the top 40, rising five places to No. 22.

As a country's ranking is calculated within the scope of a two Olympic Games cycle (including qualifying competitions at FIBA Zone level), a team like Nigeria can win the AfroBasket as it did in Tunisia on 30 August and qualify for the Olympics, only to still fall a place to No. 25.

Both the Philippines and Finland have been on strong runs of late, with the former finishing runners-up for the second consecutive time at a FIBA Asia Championship and the latter advancing from the Group Stage of the EuroBasket for the third straight time.

The Philippines have shot up three places to No. 28 in the latest ranking while Finland have risen three spots to No. 32.

Latvia had a good run to the Quarter-Finals of the EuroBasket before finishing eighth. As a result, they have risen three places to joint 35th with Italy, while Poland have climbed four spots to 38th after collecting a few wins at EuroBasket 2015 in Group A.

Czech Republic, Belgium and Georgia are teams that featured at EuroBasket 2015 which made the biggest jumps.

The Czechs ended up reaching the Quarter-Finals and defeated Latvia in the 7th-8th place game to claim a spot in one of next year's three FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (OQTs). Belgium and Georgia made it to the Round of 16 before losing.

Cuba, participants in the FIBA Americas Championship, were the biggest climbers in the top 50, jumping 15 spots to No. 45 overall.

Lebanon made it to the Quarter-Finals of the FIBA Asia Championship but plummeted nine places to No. 43.

The country's federation was suspended in 2013 and that prevented the Lebanese from taking part in that year's FIBA Asia Championship, which in term cost the team ranking points.

Another notable jump just outside the top 50 was made by India, who have gone up eight places to No. 53 after reaching the Quarter-Finals in Changsha-Hunan.

Palestine, led by superstar forward Sani Sakakini, competed at a FIBA Asia Championship for the first time and finished 10th out of the 16 teams. They achieved a ranking of No. 75.

Click here to view the full FIBA World Ranking Men.

FIBA