United States look to have easy World Cup draw

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Defending champions the United States have been given a comfortable group after the basketball World Cup draw on Monday. They are the clear favorites to retain the gold medal they won in Turkey four years ago at the tournament which will be held from the August 30 to September14 in Spain. The U.S., who also won gold at the 2012 Olympics, face the Dominican Republic, Turkey, Finland, New Zealand and the Ukraine in Group C and should have a simple passage into the next round. It will be a tougher task for second seeds Spain though, who were runners-up at the London Olympics, as they have found themselves in Group A alongside European champions France and Serbia while Egypt, Iran and Brazil complete the group. (Reporting by Tim Hanlon; Editing by Mark Meadows; To sign up for our Global Sports Forum chatroom, click on https://forms.thomsonreuters.com/global_sports_forum)