THE single-elimination phase of the ongoing FIBA Asia Cup competitions in Beirut, Lebanon started yesterday following the completion of the round-robin elimination phase among the 16 participating countries divided into four groups of four teams each.
Enjoy their early vacation were India (Group A), Qatar (Group B), Kazakhstan (Group C) and Hong Kong (Group D). All lost their three assignments to drop out of the tournament.
Still alive for a medal finish are the following: Islamic Republic of Iran (3-0), Jordan (2-1) and Syria (1-2) in Group A; the Philippines (3-0), defending champion People’s Republic of China (2-1) and Iraq (1-2) in Group B; New Zealand (2-1), host Lebanon (2-1) and South Korea (2-1) in Group C; and Australia (3-0), Japan (2-1) and Chinese-Taipei (1-2).
Note that New Zealand topped Group C following the application of the quotient system to break a three-way deadlock. The Tall Blacks owned a quotient of plus three points (won 86-82 vs. Lebanon and lost 76-75 vs. South Korea) to snatch first place. Lebanon ranked second at plus two (won 72-66 vs. South Korea and lost 86-82 to New Zealand) and South Korea was relegated to third at minus five points.
Iran, the Philippines, and new Asian entrants out of Oceania Australia and New Zealand received a second-round bye and automatically qualified for the knockout quarterfinals set for August 16 and 17 (a pair of games each day).
Second-round action unwrapped yesterday with Lebanon clashing with Chinese-Taipei and Japan tangling with South Korea. Today, Jordan faces Iraq and China battles Syria in the two other second-round encounters.
The Philippines meets the Japan vs. South Korea winner and Iran, which whipped the Filipinos to romp away with the 2013 FIBA Asia Cup (then known as the FIBA Asia Championship) title held in Manila, battles the Lebanon vs. Chinese-Taipei victor in quarterfinal (third-round) games on Wednesday, August 16. The following day (August 17), it will be New Zealand against the Jordan vs. Iraq winner and Australia against the China vs. Syria victor in the two other quarterfinal matchups.
The semifinals on Friday, August 18, will probably feature the Philippines vs. Iran in a rematch of the 2013 finals and Australia (or China) vs. New Zealand. That’s assuming the four Group leaders advance that far.
The road to title retention by perennial Asian powerhouse China is torturous. It faces dangerous Oceania kingpin Australia in the quarterfinals, granting the Mainland boys knock off Syria today in second-round play, and possibly New Zealand in the semifinals, if ever.
The Chinese are playing without three prominent behemoths in the tournament – former NBA player Yi Jianlian, new Houston Rockets signee Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin. The team, though, is powered by streak-shooting 6-foot-4, 23-year-old guard Guo Ailun (China’s first player with a Jordan Brand Nike endorsement contract).
The 2017 FIBA Asia Cup finals will be held on Sunday, August 20, along with the bronze-medal contest.
For the first time ever, this year’s Asian continental slugfest is not a qualifier to the FIBA Basketball World Cup to be hosted by China in 2019 or the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan in 2020.
That being said, all 16 participants in the FIBA Asia Cup have already earned berths for the first round of the reformatted 2019 World Cup as far as entries from the joint Asia and Oceania continents are concerned.
The next FIBA Asia Cup will be held four years from now (no longer the traditional two-year gap).