News Basketball fans around the world can start planning their Olympic festivities after the full tournament schedule for the Rio 2016 Games was announced on Thursday (19 May) Following the drawing of the groups by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) in March, Rio 2016 has now confirmed the days and times for each encounter In the men’s tournament, the final three teams will be decided at the Olympic qualifying tournaments that will be held between 4 and 10 July in Italy, Serbia and the Philippines Two of these teams will go into group A with reigning Olympic and world champions the USA plus Australia, China and Venezuela The other qualifier will join Spain, who took silver at the London 2012 Olympic Games, plus Argentina, Brazil, Lithuania and Nigeria in group B Become a basketball expert with our interactive infographic In the women’s tournament, the last five places will be decided Olympic qualifying tournament on 13-19 June in Nantes, France Three of these teams will be added to group A along with Japan, Brazil and Australia, while the other two will join reigning Olympic and world champions the USA, Canada, Senegal and Serbia in group B The USA men’s and women’s teams will go into the tournament as hot favourites for gold The American men, who are likely to feature superstars such as Stephen Curry and LeBron James, have won five of the six gold medals up for grabs since their legendary ‘Dream Team’ of NBA stars thrilled the world at the Barcelona 1992 Games, with only Argentina’s shock win at Athens 2004 upsetting the odds NBA House to be second home for basketball fans in Rio during Olympics The US women have won seven of the last eight Olympic tournaments and, like their male counterparts, will arrive in Rio as reigning world champions Australia, who have been on the podium at the last five Games (silver in 2000, 2004 and 2008, plus bronze in 1996 and 2012) are likely to be the USA’s biggest challengers The USA's Asjha Jones scores against France in the London 2012 final (Photo: Getty Images/ Mark Ralston) The Rio 2016 Games will also see the next instalment in an intense regional rivalry during the group stages, when the Brazilian men’s team take on Argentina on 13 August The Argentines triumphed 82-77 over Brazil in the London 2012 quarter-finals, but the Brazilians had their revenge in the round-of-16 game at the 2014 World Cup, winning 85-65 The Rio basketball competition will run for almost the entire duration of the Olympic Games, beginning on 6 August, the day after the opening ceremony, and finishing with the women’s medal games on 20 August and the men’s podium deciders on 21 August, the day of the closing ceremony The group phases will be played in a round-robin format (each team plays the other five in its group), with the top four teams in each group proceeding to the knock-out phase, which consists of quarter-finals, semi-finals, bronze medal games and gold medal games Carioca Arena 1 in Barra Olympic Park will be the main basketball venue, while the Youth Arena in Deodoro Olympic Park will stage the women’s group games Find out how to buy tickets to the Rio 2016 Games    Check out the full schedule below Note that in some cases one session features two women’s preliminary round games (tickets are sold per session) and in these cases the second game is scheduled to start two hours and 15 minutes after the session start time