Draw completed for 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship
ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship): Defending champions China have been drawn alongside fellow East Asian team Hong Kong, West Asia’s Lebanon and South Asia champions India in Group A for the Preliminary Round of the 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship to be held here from Aug 17-26.
The draw ceremony was held at the Sports Committee Central Office of the Mongolian Olympic Association on Friday. FIBA Asia Technical Director (Col). Lee Kak Kuan conducted the draw proceedings.
Hosts Mongolia have opted to play in Group C, which comprises Chinese Taipei – the bronze medalists of the 21st FIBA Asia Championship held at Sana’A (Yemen) – SEABA’s Indonesia and GCC’s Bahrain, who are making a comeback into the competition after a gap of 30 years.
Korea, who lost to China in the gold medal game at the 21st FIBA Asia Championship at Sana’A (Yemen) two years ago, lead the fray in Group B, which consists of another East Asian contenders Japan along with SEABA’s Singapore and WABA’s Syria.
Group D has twice former (2004, 2008) FIBA Asia U18 champions Iran – who are also the reigning WABA U18 champions – matching wits with 2008 FIBA Asia U18 Championship silver medalists Kazakhstan, reigning SEABA U18 champions Philippines and GCC’s top team Saudi Arabia.
Groupings for the Preliminary Round
Group A: China, Hong Kong, Lebanon, India
Group B: Korea, Japan, Singapore, Syria.
Group C: Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Bahrain, Mongolia.
Group D: Iran, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia
The top three teams from each group will advance to the second round of the championship.
Click here for the System of Competition at the 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship.
About 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship
The 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship is the qualifying event for the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship to be played in Czech Republic from 27 June-7 July 2013. The top three teams from the 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship will represent FIBA Asia at Czech Republic.
This will be the first time that Mongolia will host any FIBA Asia event. Mongolia will also make their debut appearance in this FIBA Asia event.
The Official website of the 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship is online at http://ulaanbaatar2012.fibaasia.net.
About FIBA Asia
FIBA Asia (http://fibaasia.net) is the governing body for basketball in Asia. With 44 National Federations affiliated FIBA Asia is one of the largest among the five FIBA zones – FIBA Europe, FIBA Americas, FIBA Africa and FIBA Oceania are the others. The members of the FIBA Asia family bring a diversity of cultures and languages making FIBA Asia the most varied, vivid and vibrant basketball community in the world. As the governing body, FIBA Asia is responsible for controlling and developing the sport of basketball in Asia.