JOHOR BAHRU (FIBA Asia U16 Championship): Seventeen teams drawn will battle it out in the inaugural FIBA Asia U16 Championship to be played in this Malaysian city from Nov 19-27, 2009.
The draw for the preliminary round of Championship was concluded on Monday.
The top two teams from the Championship will qualify for the inaugural 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship to be played in Hamburg, Germany from July 2-11, 2010.
Iran, who are the current champions of the FIBA Asia Championship (for Senior men) as also the FIBA Asia U18 Championship, have been drawn along side Chinese Taipei, Saudi Arabia and Thailand in Group C.
Iran also recently bagged the gold medal at the WABA U16 Championship played in Lebanon, while qualifying for this Championship.
Traditional powerhouses China are drawn in Group A with challenge coming from Myanmar, India and Jordan.
Jordan recently finished second behind Iran in the WABA U16 Championship.
Myanmar make their debut in FIBA Asia competitions.
Group B brings in an interesting round of competition among East Asia’s Japan, SEABA’s Philippines and Middle Asia’s Kazakhstan along with Gulf sub-zone U16 champions Bahrain.
Group C has five teams, one additional team more than the other three groups.
Hosts Malaysia join fellow SEABA nation Singapore, East Asian giants Korea, WABA bronze medalists Syria and Gulf zone’s Kuwait in Group C.
The top two teams from the four groups will advance into the top half of the Quarterfinal round with the eight teams being drawn into two groups of four teams each in the following manner:
Group I: A1, B2, C1, D2
Group II: B1, A2, C2, D1.
The other teams in the four preliminary round groups will head off into the Quarterfinal round in a similar fashion, but playing for the 9-17 positions.
The top two teams from Groups I and II will qualify for the semifinals. The winners of the semifinals will play for the gold medal and the losers for the bronze.
The teams playing the gold medal game will represent FIBA Asia in the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship.
Groupings for Preliminary round:
Group A: China, India, Jordan, Myanmar.
Group B: Bahrain, Japan, Kazakhstan, Philippines.
Group C: Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Singapore, Syria.
Group D: Chinese Taipei, Iran, Thailand, Saudi Arabia.
S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia
主题: FIBA U16 Championships: Iran drawn in Group D; China in Group A 
周二 十一月 03, 2009 2:58 pm
