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The draw for the preliminary round competition of the 23rd FIBA Asia U18 Championship to be played in Doha (Qatar) from August 19 to 28 has been announced.
Hosts Qatar have opted to play alongside twice reigning – and 10 times overall – gold medalists China, South Asia’s India and South East Asia’s Malaysia in Group A of the competition. Korea, who lost to China in the gold medal game at the 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship in Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) in 2012, along with South East Asia champions Philippines and West Asia’s Jordan form Group B.
Group C features 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship bronze medalists Iran alongside Central Asia’s Kazakhstan and two Gulf teams, Kuwait and Bahrain. Group D will feature the East Asian trio Japan, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong taking on West Asia’s Iraq.
The 23rd FIBA Asia U18 Championship is the qualifying event for the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship, the venue for which will be decided soon. The top three teams from the 23rd FIBA Asia U18 Championship will represent FIBA Asia at the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship.
