THE fourth of the six “windows” of the FIBA Basketball World Cup men’s qualifying tournaments in the four different confederations have just been completed.
Only a dozen teams in each confederation, divided into two groups of six apiece, are left to contend for the 31 tickets to the 32-team FIBA Basketball World Cup to be staged in the People’s Republic of China from August 31 to September 15 next year.
The allocated berths to the 2019 FIBA World Cup are as follows: Europe, 12; Asia-Oceania, 7; Americas, 7; and Africa, 5.
The 2019 FIBA World Cup, which before the 2014 edition was known as the FIBA World Basketball Championship, is the 18th of its kind.
It will also mark the first time since 1967 that the quadrennial games will not occur in the same year as the FIFA World Cup, but one year after the prestigious international soccer event.
Moreover, the 2019 FIBA World Cup has upgraded participation to 32 teams instead of the previous 24.
And it also comes with a bonus: The top eight teams in next year’s FIBA World Cup (including Japan as the host of the 2020 Summer Olympics) will automatically earn berths to the men’s basketball festivities in the 2018 Tokyo Olympic Games.
These are host Japan, the top two teams from the Americas and Europe and the top team each from Asia, Africa and Oceania.
The next 16 best teams from the FIBA World Cup will then vie for the four wildcard berths to the Tokyo Games through four pre-Olympic qualifying tournaments of six teams each. Only the winner of each tournament will secure the remaining Olympic berths. Unlike in previous editions, the continental championships are no longer the basis for Olympic qualification.
Hereunder are the team standings entering the fifth window of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers from November 29 through December 3 (the sixth and final window will be held from February 21-25):
ASIA-OCEANIA
Group E: New Zealand (7-1); Lebanon (6-2); South Korea (6-2); Jordan (5-3); China (4-4); 6-Syria (2-6)
Group F: Australia (7-1); Iran (6-2); Philippines (5-3); Japan (4-4); Kazakhstan (3-5); Qatar (2-6)
AMERICAS
Group E: United States (7-1); Argentina (7-1); Puerto Rico (5-3); Uruguay (5-3); Mexico (3-5); Panama (3-5)
Group F: Canada (7-1); Venezuela (7-1); Brazil (6-2); Dominican Republic (5-3); Virgin Islands (2-6); Chile (1-7)
EUROPE
Group I: Spain (7-1); Turkey (6-2); Latvia (5-3); Montenegro (4-4); Ukraine (4-4); Slovenia (2-6)
Group J: Lithuania (8-0); Italy (6-2); Poland (4-4); Hungary (4-4); Netherlands (3-5); Croatia (3-5)
Group K: France (7-1); Czech Republic (7-1); Russia (4-4); Finland (4-4); Bulgaria (3-5); Bosnia and Herzegovina (2-6)
Group L: Germany (8-0); Greece (8-0); Serbia (5-3); Georgia (3-5); Israel (3-5); Estonia (2-6)
AFRICA
Group E: Tunisia (9-0* qualified already); Angola (6-3); Egypt (5-4); Cameroon (5-4); Chad (3-6); Morocco (3-6)
Group F: Nigeria (9-0* qualified already); Senegal (7-2); Central African Republic (4-5); Ivory Coast (4-5); Rwanda (3-6); Mali (3-6)
The top three teams and the best fourth-placer among the 12 teams in each group will qualify for the 2019 FIBA World Cup in People’s Republic of China, which beat the Philippines, 14-7, for the hosting rights during the August 2015 bidding.
If the Chinese wind up among the seven qualifiers, the fourth-placer in each group will qualify. As the host, China is an automatic qualifier to the World Cup.
During the two-game fourth window of the Asia-Oceania qualifier, Team Philippines lost to the Islamic Republic of Iran, 81-73, in Tehran and then defeated Qatar, 92-81, in a closed-door game at the Araneta Coliseum after trailing by as much as 17 points in the second quarter and 52-39 at intermission.
In the fifth window, the Filipinos will take on Kazakhstan (which they easily defeated during the Asian Games even without NBA player Jordan Clarkson) on November 30 and Iran again on December 3 – both at home in an open-to-the-public Mall of Asia Arena.
Team Pilipinas, whose two other losses came against group-leading Australia during the first round (three sets of two-game windows each), including the infamous full-blown game brawl at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan last July 2 that resulted in numerous player suspensions, banishment by two members of the coaching staff, and a one-game team suspension meted by the FIBA.
In the sixth and final two-game window next year, Coach Yeng Guiao’s troops will be on the road against Qatar on February 21 and Kazakhstan on February 24.
It’s a good thing that the Philippines swept its two-game series with revitalized Japan (which scored upsets against Australia and Iran once each in the previous windows), but it may need to secure second victories over the Qataris and Kazakhs to avoid complications in their own group as well as ward off the fourth-highest ranking in the other qualifying group from Asia such as Jordan and China even if the Chinese don’t need these qualifiers as host of the 2019 FIBA World Cup.