TURIN (2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments) - The stage is now set for what is a guaranteed thriller of a week in basketball in Turin, Italy, this summer. That will be the site of a FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, with Greece, Mexico, Iran, Tunisia and Croatia having been drawn into the same OQT as hosts Italy.

Only one of the winner of the OQT, which is to be staged 4-9 July, will advance to the Rio de Janeiro Games. So what about the make-up of this OQT, which is split into two groups?

Greece, Mexico and Iran will trade blows in Group A, and the top two sides will advance to the Final Round to meet the top two sides from Group B, which includes Tunisia, Croatia and Italy.

The first-place team in Group A will take on the second-place team from Group B in one Semi-Final, and the side that comes top of Group B will go up against the second-top team in Group A in the other Semi-Final. The winners will them meet in a do-or-die showdown for a spot in the Olympics.

The last couple of 12-team OQTs are proof that no team can be taken lightly. Greece will know that better than any side.

Greece

Greece have experienced the good, and the bad, at the last couple of OQTs. In 2008, they hosted the event and went unbeaten to claim a spot in the Beijing Games. Four years ago, however, the Greeks travelled to Caracas, Venezuela, and were upset by Nigeria in an elimination round game. Fotis Katsikaris will coach the team for a third straight summer, and they have one of the most exciting talents in international basketball in high-flying Giannis Antetokounmpo. Greece will be favored against both Mexico and Iran, although both of those teams will be dangerous.

Mexico

Mexico have had some turbulence of late, chiefly a FIBA suspension that was recently lifted. Coach Sergio Valdeolmillos and the players promptly gave their commitment to CONADE that they will be at the OQT. Gustavo Ayon, the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship MVP, is their most powerful and best-known player. The Mexicans advanced just as far as the Greeks did at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, to the Round of 16. And they were narrow losers to Argentina last year in a FIBA Americas Championship Semi-Final they needed to win to qualify for the Olympics.

Iran

Winners of the 2007, 2009 and 2013 FIBA Asia Championships and participants at the 2008 Olympics and 2010 and 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cups, Iran have plenty of veterans and chemistry. If giant center Hamed Ehadadi plays, he will give the team a low post presence that is invaluable. The likes of point guard Mahdi Kamrani and Samad Nikkhah Bahrami  are experienced and hungry. Coach Dirk Bauermann, who steered Germany to one of the three berths for the Beijing Games at the 2008 OQT, led Iran for the first time last year and guided it to a third-place finish at the FIBA Asia Championship in China.

Italy

With a raucous home support and one of their most talented teams for a long time, Italy have a great chance to win the OQT and make it to Rio. Alessandro Gentile, Danilo Gallinari, Andrea Bargnani, Gigi Datome and Marco Belinelli are a fabulous five players, and there is plenty of talent coming off the bench. The appointment of Ettore Messina as coach has given the national team some inspiration, and a spark. In 2004, Italy made it to the Final of the Athens Games. Maybe this is their year to return to the Olympics.

Croatia

Among the most unpredictable of teams in European basketball, it's hard to know which Croatia will show up at the OQT. In 2008, they were fully focused and determined and clinched a berth to Beijing at the OQT in Athens but the following year, when they were among the favorites at the EuroBasket, Croatia lost in the Quarter-Finals. Only last year, Croatia hosted Group Phase games at the EuroBasket in Zagreb and had a talent-filled roster to admire yet one that crashed to a heavy defeat to the Czech Republic in the Round of 16 in Lille, France. Velimir Perasovic held the reins last year. Who will coach this team at the OQT and how many veterans will come back? One player to watch will be Dario Saric, an all-rounder who usually makes the team better when he's on the court.

Tunisia

The side coached by Adel Tlatli has plenty of big-game experience. It played at the 2010 FIBA Basketball World Cup, won AfroBasket 2011 with Salah Mejri the tournament MVP and then competed at the 2012 Olympics. Tunisia felt the pressure as hosts of AfroBasket 2015 but still played well enough to reach the OQT. They were also the only team to beat eventual champions Nigeria. Players to watch will be Makram Ben Romdhane and sharpshooter Mourad El Mabrouk.

FIBA