A picture taken on April 24, 2020 in Mies, shows a board with a countdown clock for the Olympic Basketball Tournament Tokyo 2020 at the entrance of the International Basketball Federation FIBA. (Photo: AFP)

GENEVA, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- The draw ceremony for Tokyo 2020 Olympic basketball tournaments took place at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball in Mies, Switzerland on Tuesday.

The draw was held behind closed doors due to the ongoing pandemic.

Each team is allocated to four spots based on the FIBA world rankings, and the draw distributes the teams in three groups of four teams each.

12 participants of the Olympic women's basketball tournament have been confirmed. China, undefeated in the Olympic qualifiers in last February, is placed in Group C with world No. 2 Australia, Puerto Rico and FIBA Women's World Cup 2018 semifinalist Belgium.

It will be the ninth Olympic appearance for China, whose best result is the runner-up in 1992.

The USA will kick off its title defense in Group B against Nigeria, Olympic hosts Japan and France.

Group A is comprised of South Korea, Serbia, Canada and Spain.

Eight men's teams have already qualified for the Tokyo 2020 through the FIBA World Cup 2019, while the remaining four spots will be decided through the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournaments scheduled from June 29 to July 4 and played in Victoria (Canada), Split (Croatia), Kaunas (Lithuania) and Belgrade (Serbia) respectively.

Reigning champion USA is drawn into Group A with Iran, France and the winner of the Victoria qualifying tournament, where China is scheduled to play.

Group B features Australia, the split qualifying tournament winner, the Belgrade qualifying tournament winner and Nigeria.

Argentina, Japan, Spain and the Kaunas qualifying tournament winner are placed in Group C.

Top two sides from each group and the two best third-placed teams will advance to quarterfinals at the Olympic Games.