TIME was when only the Asian Youth 18-and-Under Basketball Championship and its international counterparts were being staged on a regular basis.
At the turn of the century, though, youth basketball was further bolstered with competitions in the various age groups held at the Asian and World levels as well. Moreover, the FIBA has even come up with a three-on-three tournament in recent years. What was once simply a streetball side attraction or a promotional stunt has now been elevated to “official” status by the world basketball-governing body.
Now you have local and international tournaments in the age groups 11-and-under, 12-and-under, 13-and-under, 14-and-under, 15-and-under, 16-and-under and 17-and-under.
Indeed, the sport of basketball is becoming a favorite pastime for athletes from the younger generation.
Currently, there’s the FIBA Asia Under-16 Championship in Jakarta, Indonesia – the continental qualifying tournament to the 2016 FIBA Under-17 World Championship.
Following the 11th-hour withdrawal of North Korea, only 15 countries were left to contest the biennial Under-16 conclave. Team were divided into four groups of four each in preliminary play, with the exception of Group C, where the Philippines was bracketed with only Bahrain and Thailand in the fold after the Nokors backed out.
Group last-placers Hong Kong, Bangladesh and India fell by the wayside early and four others – Indonesia, Malaysia, Iraq and Bahrain – were eliminated after the second-round group action.
Chinese-Taipei, the only unbeaten team in the tournament with a 6-0 overall record (including the win over Bangladesh, whose result was not carried over into the second phase), topped Group E in the second round at 5-0 and advanced to the knockout quarterfinals, together with Lebanon (4-1), Japan (3-2) and Kuwait (2-3).
Defending champion China, the Philippines and South Korea registered identical records of 4-1 in Group F but the Chinese grabbed the top spot with the best quotient in the tiebreaker with plus 20. (The Mainlanders whipped the Koreans, 91-65, in first-round play but lost to the Michael Oliver-coached Filipinos, 78-72, in the second round for their first setback ever in the Under-16 competitions in 31 games dating back to 2009.)
The Philippines, which succumbed to a 77-74 decision against South Korea in the second phase, ranked second with plus 3 while the Sokors dropped to third with a minus 23 differential. Thailand placed fourth in Group F with a 2-3 card.
In the quarterfinal matchups today (November 5), it will be Chinese-Taipei vs. Thailand, Lebanon vs. South Korea, the Philippines vs. Japan and China vs. Kuwait.
The semifinals, which will be played tomorrow, November 6, feature the following matchups: Chinese-Taipei-Thailand winner vs. Philippines-Japan winner and China-Kuwait winner vs. Lebanon-South Korea winner.
The semifinal winners will earn tickets to next year’s FIBA Under-17 World Championship.
The FIBA Asia Under-16 title game will be held on November 7.
Two years ago, China beat the Philippines for the FIBA Asia Under-16 crown. In 2014, the Filipinos made it to the FIBA Under-17 World Championship for the first time ever and finished 15th with a solitary win in seven assignments.