MANILA (Enzo Flojo's Asia on my Mind) - The groups for the 2016 Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (OQTs) have finally been drawn, and all three Asian teams are set for a very difficult uphill climb on the Road to Rio 2016.

Philippines, runners-up at the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship, are drawn in the Manila tournament as hosts, while Iran - who came in third at last year's continental event - will play in Turin, Italy, and Japan have been placed in Group B of the OQT in Belgrade, Serbia.

Without a doubt, the Filipinos, Iranians and Japanese are going to have their work cut out for them. Advancing past the group stage will be hard enough for all three countries, let alone upsetting the much higher ranked teams from the other continents and qualifying for the Olympics.

Still, difficult is not necessarily impossible. If Gilas Pilipinas, Team Melli and Team Hayabusa are able to form the best possible rosters and peak at just the right time, anything can happen.

Let's take a look at where each Asian squad stands:

Philippines
The Filipinos got to this point thanks to finishing second at the FIBA Asia Championship for the second edition in a row. With naturalized player Andray Blatche in tow, Gilas Pilipinas, despite missing some of the top players from the PBA and losing their opening day assignment to Palestine, were able to gain enough momentum for a return trip to the Final against old time rivals and hosts China, which eventually won gold. It stands to reason that Blatche will be back in the Philippine colors this coming summer, and he will certainly play a central role in the Filipinos’ efforts to shock the world.

Alongside him, Filipinos hope, will be current NBA rising star Jordan Clarkson. If Clarkson is indeed able to play for Gilas, he will instantly make them all the more dangerous. The young guard from the Los Angeles Lakers has shown flashes of brilliance, and doing that on the international stage is going to be something many Filipinos will pay good money to see. Of course, local homegrown talent will compose much of Gilas' roster, with young guns like Terrence Romeo and Calvin Abueva already sharing the spotlight with national team veterans Jayson Castro and June Mar Fajardo. The experience and expertise of tried-and-tested coach Tab Baldwin will be integral as well, especially considering they will face coach Tab's former team, New Zealand, in group play.

Iran
The Iranians, winners of three of the last five FIBA Asia Championships, faltered in their title defence in Changsha-Hunan last year. A loss in the second round to the Philippines placed them on the "wrong" side of the Quarter-Finals bracket, and they succumbed to a peaking Chinese side in the Semi-Finals. Still, they managed to finish on the podium after besting Japan in the battle for third place. The iconic trio of Hamed Haddadi, Samad Nikkhah Bahrami and Mahdi Kamrani will once again be counted on to spearhead Team Melli's attack when they take the court in Turin. The three have been the unmistakable faces of Iran's golden generation this past decade, and, given their ages, this may very well be their final chance to qualify for the Olympics.

Unlike Gilas Pilipinas, Iran is not expected to have any naturalized players or current NBA talent. It's not like they really need the help, though, as they've proven time and again that they can be very competitive at the world level with Haddadi, Bahrami, and Kamrani leading the charge. Set to inherit the mantle of leadership for Iran are Asghar Kardoust, Mohammad Jamshidi, Behnam Yakhchali, and NBA draftee Arsalan Kazemi. Those young bucks are surely in the mix to don Iran’s colors in the OQT.

Japan
Coach Kenji Hasegawa's wards were very much the Cinderella team of the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship. Unlike in 2013, Team Hayabusa didn't bring a naturalized player to Changsha-Hunan, but that didn't seem to matter as the likes of Joji Takeuchi, Makoto Hiejima, Takatoshi Furukawa, and former NBA playmaker Yuta Tabuse rose to the occasion. Their splendid display of teamwork and resiliency compensated for the absence of key veterans like Kosuke Takeuchi, Kosuke Kanamaru and Takuya Kawamura.

That's something they cannot afford when they fly to Belgrade, though, despite the fact that their draw seems to be the "lightest" compared to their Asian peers. Japan must bring a full complement of its very best players when they face Latvia and Czech Republic in group play, and, quite honestly, having a naturalized player may also yield benefits, especially when it comes to augmenting the team’s collective size. Japan should be among the smallest teams, if not the smallest team, out of all 18 OQTs teams, but I'm sure coach Hasegawa will more than compensate for that with their sharp shooting, crisp passing, and trademark speed.

Enzo Flojo

FIBA

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