Chennai, Nov 21 (IANS ) With two losses in two matches, the Indian men's basketball team will hope to revive their campaign in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers when it takes on Qatar and Kazakhstan in the two home matches at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here in the second international window on November 22 and 25.
Placed in Group E with Iran as the other team in the four-team group, India will take on Qatar on Friday and will meet Kazakhstan on Monday.
India, 76th in the FIBA world rankings, lost their opening matches in February against Kazakhstan (63-50) and Iran (83-56) and are currently fourth in the group. They will have to win both the matches in this leg and the remaining two games in the third leg in February 2025 to maintain their chances of qualifying for the next stage.
The top two teams from the group will make it to the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 in Saudi Arabia. The third-placed teams from each of the six groups will play in another qualifying tournament for the remaining four places at the main event.
The 24 competing teams have been divided into six groups of four. The top two teams in each group will make it to the final round in Saudi Arabia next year, while the six third-placed teams will play in another qualifying tournament for the final four places.
Places for the qualifiers of the 2024 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Qatar will also be up for grabs. Qatar is automatically qualified as the World Cup host.
There is some good news for the 12-member Indian basketball team, which is playing under American coach Scott Flemming. The two matches will also mark the return of experienced Amjyot Singh Gill to the side led by captain Muin Bek Hafeez. India’s tallest player Palpreet Singh Brar and NBA Academy trainee Pranav Prince are the other notable names in the squad.
Following the two matches in Chennai, India will play away games against Iran and Qatar in February next year in the third window of the second round.
India’s best finish at the FIBA Asia Cup came in 1975, finishing fourth. In the last edition, hosted by Indonesia, the Indian basketball team finished 16th.