Indian basketball players will play the final qualifiers of 2021 FIBA Asia Cup in Jakarta. Meanwhile, India will host the women’s event in September.

The final qualifying round for the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup featuring the Indian basketball team will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia from August 12-14.

The Indian team, led by Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, had a difficult outing in the first round of the qualifiers which concluded in February.

Clubbed alongside Bahrain, Lebanon and Iraq, India began with a one-point loss to Bahrain in their opening fixture and then bounced back to beat Iraq 94-75.

Losses to Lebanon and Bahrain derailed India’s hopes of gaining a direct entry into the continental competition.

But another victory over Iraq, a match that saw Bhriguvanshi sink in a buzzer-beater from close to the halfway line, helped India secure a third place in the group and move into the final qualifying stage.

In Jakarta, India will be joined by teams from the other five groups once their group stage commitments are over in June. The six teams will be divided into two groups with the top two in each group making the main event.

The 2021 FIBA Asia Cup will be held in Jakarta from August 16-28.

Meanwhile, the 2021 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup will be held in India from September 26 to October 3. The host city is yet to be announced. Bengaluru hosted the previous two editions in 2017 and 2019.

In 2017, the Indian women’s basketball team qualified for the top tier with a title-winning run in Division B. In the following event in 2019, however, India finished bottom in Division A and returned to the lower tier for 2021.

FIBA's Central Board meeting looks ahead to upcoming window of Continental Cup Qualifiers

the meeting:

FIBA Continental Cup Qualifiers

The Central Board received a detailed report on the upcoming window of the FIBA Continental Cup Qualifiers, set to be played during November 23 to December 1, across the regions. FIBA has decided to conduct these tournaments in bubbles, following recommendations from its Medical Commission and Competitions Commission, with the health and safety of players, coaches and officials being the primary consideration.  

FIBA this year has successfully executed the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Hungary Masters 2020 in Debrecen with the participation of players from Europe, Americas and Asia, the Basketball Champions League Qualifiers in Cyprus and Bulgaria and also the Basketball Champions League Final 8 in Athens and implemented strict health protocols at each of these events. These protocols have been developed after consultation with the WHO and the NBA and will be enforced at the FIBA Continental Cup Qualifiers in each region.

Update of FIBA Competitions for 2021-2023

Status reports were presented on the preparations for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments taking place at the end of June 2021, as well as the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022 and FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

FIBA Youth World Events 

The Central Board has awarded the hosting rights of the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022 to Spain. The event will take place in two cities, La Nucia and Alicante, with dates to be confirmed. The FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 was awarded to Hungary earlier this year. Both the National Federations of Spain and Hungary have been awarded multiple events as part of FIBA's multi-year hosting model. Spain will also host the FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2023 in Madrid.

The success of the FIBA U17 Skills Challenge 2020, for both men and women, was also presented to the Central Board. Due to the National Federation members' strong interest and the accomplishments made by participating teams during the event, the decision to continue with this project was taken, with the next FIBA Skills Challenge to be organized in 2021 with a strong focus on development.  

Club Competitions update

Updates were presented to the Central Board on the recently concluded seasons of FIBA's international leagues, the Basketball Champions League (BCL) and the Basketball Champions League Americas (BCLA). Both leagues successfully concluded their 2019-2020 seasons in very challenging environments, with the BCL Final 8 played in Greece in early October and the BCLA Final played last week in Uruguay.   

3x3 Basketball

An update of the season was given, with two more stops scheduled before the World Tour conclusion, with the Masters taking place in Doha, Qatar, on November 20-21 and the Final in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on December 18-19. 

National Federations 

The Mexican Basketball Federation (ADEMEBA) was suspended in February this year. However, following the institutional changes made recently and subject to certain requirements being met, to be communicated to the competent Mexican authorities by FIBA, the Central Board has exceptionally decided to allow the national team to participate at the FIBA AmeriCup 2022 Qualifiers in November.

Appointment

The Central Board co-opted one new member, Jorge Garbajosa, Chairman of the Competitions Commission and President of the Spanish Basketball Federation.

Other matters 

The Central Board approved the proposal to establish an award in memory of Dr. Dirk-Reiner Martens, who sadly passed away earlier this year. The Dr. Dirk-Reiner Martens Award will be presented every two years to an individual who has made a significant academic contribution in the area of basketball-related legal matters and/or the resolution of international sports disputes.  

The Central Board also approved the budget for 2021 and amendments to the FIBA Internal Regulations, notably in relation to cross-border leagues.   

FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers November window host cities confirmed

The host cities of the upcoming November 2020 windows of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers have been confirmed. 

The confirmed hosting cities will be Bahrain (Manama), Qatar (Doha), and Jordan (Amman).

Manama, Bahrain is set as hosts for games in Groups A and D. Group A teams include Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. Group D teams include Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, and India.

Meanwhile, Doha, Qatar will be hosting games in Groups B and E. Group B teams include China, Japan, Chinese Taipei, and Malaysia. Group E teams include Qatar, Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.

Amman, Jordan will serve as the site for Window 2 games in Group F that includes Palestine, Jordan, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka. 

The most important criteria in choosing the hosts were health and travel guarantees and compliance with FIBA health protocols, including testing and controlled entry into a secure environment.  

The exact schedule of games will be confirmed later.  

The decision to play both windows in bubbles, instead of home and away games, for men's competitions, was confirmed by the FIBA Executive Committee in September after taking into consideration the health and safety of players, coaches, and officials, and following a recommendation from the Medical and Competitions Commissions.

FIBA will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation in Asia on a daily basis and communicate further updates regarding FIBA Competitions when necessary. 

With it's basketball history in bits and pieces, Cambodia are creating a new chapter for the future

The tragic period of the late 1970s in Cambodia dealt a huge blow to each and every aspect in the country. Basketball was obviously no exception as the history of Cambodia basketball was nearly wiped out from that time.

Bits of nostalgia concerning basketball survived the brutal moments, though it has been tough for the Cambodia Basketball Federation (CBF) to piece everything together. Whether it is pockets of interviews revealing the thriving basketball community around the country and invitational tournaments that Cambodia participated in, CBF has gone through an ongoing process to recover photos concerning these events. It is therefore a sad situation in which the young Cambodia ballers of today have not had many local inspirations or role models to look up to.

"We hope that this write up will reach surviving members of the past era to provide more information," said CBF Secretary-General, Koledoye Abayomi.

Cambodia had no choice but to move forward, leaving that all in that past for the time being.

"The new era of Cambodia basketball started growing from the late 90s with participation in regional tournaments mostly the Southeast Asian Games," Abayomi added. They have been gradually and consistently improving ever since.

The Southeast Asian nation has been consistently sending national teams to play in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games ever since 1997 until most recently the 2019 edition in Manila. The men's team has made significant progress over the years, highlighted by a 5th-place finish at SEA Games 2015 in Singapore - their best performance ever.

Other than the SEA Games, Cambodia has been quite active as well, especially in recent years. In the early 2010s, they played in several international exhibition tournaments and games. In 2018, they were specifically busy whether it was hosting a U23 regional tournament participated by Vietnam, Laos, and Brunei or playing at the Asia Cup 2021 SEABA Pre-Qualifiers in Thailand.

CBF knows that there is great potential for basketball to grow in the country. They are determined to take Cambodia basketball as far as it can. Their main objective, as of this moment, is to make basketball visible in all 25 provinces, focused on each of the 5 regions: Phnom Penh, Battambang, Siem Reap, Steong Treng, and Sihanoukville.

To meet that objective and to increase the popularity of the sport, CBF has pushed to feature many basketball competitions for players to compete at every level. From Primary school games, Secondary school games, University games, the biennial National games, and the Cambodia Basketball League (CBL), CBF is determined to give as many opportunities for the next wave of ballers as they can to enjoy and fall in love with the game.

Also in the plans of developing basketball in Cambodia is CBF's efforts to promote 3x3 basketball. Because of the practicality of 3x3 basketball which makes it easier to expose top players to international competitions using limited funds and to attract sponsors, the federation is highly committed to make this project work for the future of basketball in the country.

The push to develop a new generation by the federation is also clearly evident by the grassroots development program.

"The Federation started a grassroots program four years ago at the U15 level with 12 players. At the moment, there are a total of 24 players in the program," said Abayomi.

"[These players] have been exposed to various international competitions like the Asia Cup 2021 SEABA Pre-Qualifiers in Thailand and SEA Games 2019 in the Philippines," said Abayomi. "These players are undergoing year-long training."

All of this falls in line with the strong commitments of recently re-elected CBF President Sean Borath to continue pushing Cambodia basketball forward. Both laid out several plans to make this happen such as setting long-term strategies, coaching development, technical official development, media department development, among other important topics.

The focus on performing at the SEA Games is still in place, as stated in a commitment to prepare strong national teams for SEA Games 2021. However, it was also mentioned that the CBF push to participate in all SEABA events especially at the youth level as a qualifying step to participate in events at the regional level. Most importantly were the commitments to develop women's basketball as well as basketball at the youth level in order to create a mass basketball growth that will have multiplying effects in the next decade.

The history of Cambodia basketball might have been torn apart, difficult to piece back for the current generation to learn and take inspiration from. The CBF is making sure to put their efforts into writing a new history - their history - for the current generation and beyond to grow, develop, and enjoy the sport of basketball together.

Madrid, Spain to host FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup in 2023

 

FIBA has confirmed that Madrid, Spain will be hosts of the FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup 2023. The event will take place from July 15 to 23, 2023. 

The Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB) has a strong history of hosting FIBA events with the recent FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2018 in Tenerife and the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2016 for both men and women in Zaragoza. They will co-host the upcoming FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2021 with France. This will be the first time for the city of Madrid to be hosting a FIBA event since the Final of the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2014.

The previous edition of the FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup saw the USA outplay Australia in overtime in 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand, winning the Final 74-70.  A new trophy was presented in Bangkok to Team USA which featured a basketball sculptured in the shape of a rising star.

The next FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup is set to be played from August 7 to 15, 2021 in Debrecen, Hungary.

Bengaluru set as host city for FIBA Women's Asia Cup 2019

The FIBA Women's Asia Cup 2019, Division A will take place from 24-29 September 2019 in Bengaluru, India.

The FIBA Women's Asia Cup 2019, the 28th edition of the event, is split into two divisions, combining both the regions of Asia and Oceania. The national teams that have earned their spots to compete in Division A are Japan, Australia China, Korea, Chinese Taipei, India, Philippines and New Zealand.  The host of Division B will be announced at a later date. 

India and the city of Bengaluru has been host to other major Asian basketball events in recent years. The East Indian city also hosted the previous FIBA Women's Asia Cup in 2017 for both Division A and B. Japan beat heavy-favourites Australia in the Final to win their third straight FIBA Asia Cup title, while hosts India beat Kazakhstan in Division B, in front of a sell out crowd, resulting in the promotion to Division A.

Youth championships were also held in Bengaluru with both the FIBA U16 Women's Asian Championship in 2017 and the FIBA U18 Women's Asian Championship in 2018. 

The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has continuously displayed their efforts towards promoting basketball, especially women's basketball, in the country over the years and hosting the Women's Asia Cup is another big step in the same direction

FIBA's Regional Office in Asia announces dates of youth championships in 2018

FIBA's Regional Office Asia has announced the hosts and dates for three youth continental championships to be played in 2018 as well as this year's FIBA Asia Champions Cup.

The FIBA U18 Asian Championship 2018 will be played in Bangkok, Thailand from August 5-11. The top four finishers in the 16-team tournament will qualify for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2019.

Bengaluru, India will yet again host an Asian age group event, this time the FIBA U18 Women's Asian Championship 2018. The top four finishers from this competition will book their tickets to the FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup 2019.

The Regional Office also approved Dalang, China, as the site for the FIBA U16 Asian Championship 2017, to be played from March 26-April 1, 2018. This 16-team tournament will send the top four finishers to the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2018, taking place from June 30-July 8 in Argentina.

Asian basketball fans can also look forward to high level action in China this autumn as the FIBA Asia Champions Cup 2018 will be played there from September 25-30.