Nations that lost two games in the qualifying rounds were eliminated. When there were only two teams left in each group, those teams advanced to the main tournament.
Group A
Group A consisted of Cuba, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Switzerland.
Romania's first game was a loss to Canada. Italy and Turkey played each other, with Turkey's second loss eliminating them.
Canada def. Romania, 72–51
Italy def. Turkey, 49–37
Bye: Egypt
Third round
Italy and Romania, who had both lost once, played each other. Romania's second loss eliminated them, while Canada and Egypt played each other, with Egypt being served its first loss; Canada qualified.
Italy def. Romania, 53–39
Canada def. Egypt, 63–57
Final round
Italy played its fourth game of the tournament against Egypt. The closely contested decisive game ended with Egypt qualifying for the main competition and Italy being eliminated.
Egypt def. Italy, 66–62
Group stage
The top two teams in each group advanced to the quarterfinal round.
The top two teams in each quarterfinals advanced to the semifinals. The other two teams in each quarterfinals played in the fifth through eighth place classification.
The 5th place match between Chile and BrazilThe bronze medal game between Uruguay and ArgentinaThe final match between the Soviet Union and the United States
(*) NOTE: There are only players counted, which participated in one game at least. Up to now only two reserve player can be named, 14 reserve players are unknown.
