Caracas, Venezuela Jul 3: Russia, Greece, Angola and Venezuela won their opening games Monday in the final qualifying tournament for men's basketball at the London Olympics.
Russia defeated South Korea 91-56 in Group C. Andrey Kirlenko had 16 points for Russia with Sergey Monya adding 14. Lee Seung-jun led South Korea with 15.
Greece beat Jordan 107-63 in Group A. Konstantinos Papanikolaou had 19 points and Georgios Printezis added 16. Enver Soobzokov was best for Jordan with 14.
Angola edged Macedonia 88-84 in Group D with Eduardo Mingas scoring 24 and Olimpio Cipriano adding 23. Carlos Morais had 18. Lester McCalebb scored 21 for the Macedonia.
In Group B, home team Venezuela slipped by Nigeria 71-69. Greivis Vasquez led the South Americans with 24. Ike Diogu was Nigeria's top scorer with 14.
Three teams will claim the final berths for the Olympics, and Greece, Lithuania and Russia are viewed as the favorites.
Group play ends Wednesday with the quarterfinals on Friday, semifinals on Saturday and the final match on Sunday to decide the remaining spot.
In Tuesday matches: South Korea vs. Dominican Republic, Macedonia vs. New Zealand, Jordan vs. Puerto Rico, and Venezuela vs. Lithuania.
