I recently got hold of the latest FIBA world men’s basketball rankings. It included the results of the recent FIBA-Asia Championship in Tianjin, China and FIBA-Africa Championship in Tripoli, Libya.

The rankings provided some surprises.

Despite setbacks in international events the past two years, Argentina surprisingly remains No. 1. The Argentines settled for the bronze medal during the 2008 Beijing Olympics after taking the gold four years earlier in the Athens Games.

Last month, the South American team placed only fifth in the 9th FIBA Under-19 World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand.

In contrast, Team USA is still locked in at second place even if the Americans have had nothing but success during the same period.

A potent National Basketball Association (NBA) all-star selection led the Star Spangled Banner past reigning World titlist Spain in the men’s basketball gold-medal contest in the Beijing Olympiad a year ago. The U.S., employing a collection of collegiate players, beat Greece to capture the title during the Under-19 World Championship for the first time since 1991.

Rounding out the top eight are European powerhouses Spain, Greece, Serbia, Lithuania, Germany and Italy. Except for Italy, which failed to make it out of the pre-tournament qualifier, all will compete in the 2009 EuroBasket competitions in Poland from September 7-20. The EuroBasket is FIBA Europe’s qualifying tournament to the World Basketball Championship in Istanbul, Turkey next.

Expectedly, the People’s Republic of China owns the highest ranking among Asian countries.

The Chinese retained their ninth-place position from the previous list even though the Islamic Republic of Iran manhandled them in the finals of the 2009 FIBA-Asia Championship.

From 23rd place, Iran jumped to 21st following back-to-back title victories in the biennial FIBA-Asia games.

Jordan, the FIBA-Asia third-placer which along with Iran and China earned a ticket to next year’s World event, moved up to 39th place from 43rd.

The other Asian rankings are:

Lebanon, 24th; Korea, 26th; Qatar, 27th; Japan, 32nd; Kazakhstan, 37th; Chinese-Taipei, 43rd; India, 49th (tie); Syria, 49th (tie); Kuwait, 52nd; PHILIPPINES, 53rd (from 62nd); Uzbekistan, 58th; Hong Kong, 62nd (tie); Indonesia, 62nd (tie); Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 65th; United Arab Emirates, 66th (tie); Malaysia, 69th; and Sri Lanka, 71st.

Thailand (formerly 68th, tie) and Singapore (formerly, 70th) fell out of the top 75 rankings.

Erstwhile unranked Sri Lanka, which finished 16th and last in the recent FIBA-Asia tournament after posting a 0-5 record (including a 74-42 loss to Indonesia in the 15th-16th-place game), joined the list for the first time.