FIBA Announces Draw for Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers
The draw for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers was conducted yesterday in Guanghzhou, China, and was attended by former NBA superstars Scottie Pippen and Yao Ming.
For the first round of qualifying, India is drawn in Group C along with Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan.
India will now play six qualifying games between November 2017 and July 2018, three of which are likely to be played on home soil.
In order to qualify for the second round of qualifiers, India must finish in the top 3 of its group.
The second round of qualifiers will be conducted between September 2018 and February 2019, in two groups of six each. The top 3 teams from each group, along with the best fourth placed team, will qualify for the World Cup 2019 in China.
For the first time ever, the Asian qualifiers will now also include Oceania teams of Australia & New Zealand.
FIBA World Cup- Asian Qualifiers Draws. Image credit- FIBA.com
Bengaluru, 8th May 2017:Â The draw for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers was conducted yesterday, May 7, 2017, in Guaghzhou, China. The event was attended by former NBA superstars Yao Ming and Scottie Pippen.
The draw was conducted region wise, based on the new qualifying format that sees a total of eighty teams competing region wise across four regions: Africa, the Americas, Asia – Oceania, and Europe. Each team will play home and away games spanning a 15 month period, divided into six ‘qualifying windows’, vying to qualify as one of the thirty one teams that will join hosts China at the FIBA World Cup in 2019.
The Qualifiers for the Asia – Oceania region comprise the same sixteen teams that are slated to compete at the FIBA Asia Cup 2017 in Lebanon from August 10 – 20, 2017. The top seven teams from the Qualifiers will advance to play in the World Cup 2019 that will be conducted in China.
For the first round of qualifying, India has been drawn in Group C, along with Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. Group A comprises China, New Zealand, Korea, and Hong Kong; Group B comprises Japan, Chinese Taipei, Australia, and Philippines, and Group D Comprises Iraq, Qatar, Kazakhstan, and Iran.
This will be the first time ever that the powerhouse Oceania teams of Australia and New Zealand will be competing within the Asian region.
India is currently ranked 53rd in the FIBA rankings, which renders it the third best team in its group, after Jordan (28) and Lebanon (43). The 4th team in the group, Syria, is ranked 72nd in the world.
In the first round of qualifying, India will play each of the teams in its group twice (home and away) between November 2017 and July 2018. India must finish in the top three of their group in order to qualify for the second round of qualifying.
While the venues for the first round games have not been decided yet, the schedule is as follows:
23 November, 2017: Lebanon vs. India
26 November, 2017:Â India Syria
23 February, 2018:Â India Jordan
26 February, 2018:Â India Lebanon
28 June, 2018: Syria vs. India
1 July, 2018: Jordan vs. India
In the second round of qualifying, the twelve teams that qualify from the first round will be divided into two groups of six each. Each team will play the other teams in its group twice (home and away) between September 2018 and February 2019, and the results from the first round of qualifying will also count towards the standings in the second round.
The top three teams from each group will qualify for the World Cup, along with the better fourth placed team. The World Cup is scheduled to be held in China from August 31 – September 15 2019.
For more information on the Asian qualifiers visit: http://www.fiba.com/basketballworldcup/2019/asian-qualifiersÂ
The full schedule of the Asian qualifiers can be accessed here:Â http://www.fiba.com/basketballworldcup/2019/asian-qualifiers/fullschedule