Bengaluru: The draw ceremony for the upcoming FIBA Women’s Asia Cup, to be held in the city from July 23-29 was held at Krishna Hall on Wednesday.
The tournament, which is the qualifying event for FIBA Asia at the FIBA World Championship for women to be held in Spain next year, saw hosts India drawn alongside Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan and American Samoa in group ‘A’ of Division B.
Meanwhile Lebanon, Singapore, Kazakistan and Fiji made up group B of division B. The qualifying tournament is divided in two divisions. Division ‘A’ comprises top teams like New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Korea and Chinese Taipei amongst others.
Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah drew the opening lots along with his sports minister, Pramod Madhvaraj. Also present were Basketball Federation of India (BFI) President K. Govindaraj and Secretary General, Chander Mukhi Sharma.
With India finally hosting a major event after seven years, FIBA Asia Regional Director Hagop Khajirian expressed his satisfaction with the preparation for the tournament. “We had several meetings with BFI and coordination is almost perfect. The Sport Authorities’ support is far ahead of our expectations,” said Khajirian.
With the event to be held at two venues — Sree Kanteerava Stadium and Koramangala Indoor Stadium — Khajirian added, “Renovation works in the main arena re still running and expected to be finished before the scheduled time. Recruitment of man-power and logistic support by volunteers and sport circles have to programmed with more attention.”
Draw:
Division A: Group A: 1. New Zealand, 2. Chinese Taipei, 3. DPR of Korea, 4. China
Group B: 1. Korea, 2. Philippines, 3. Japan, 4. China
Division B: Group A: 1. Sri Lanka, 2. India, 3. American Samoa, 4. Uzbekistan
Group B: 1. Lebanon, 2. Singapore, 3. Kazakistan, 4. Fiji
