BENGALURU (India) - Four teams remain in the hunt for continental supremacy as the FIBA Women's Basketball League Asia 2026 Semi-Finals get underway this Saturday at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium.
Action begins at 16:00 local time, with Sichuan Yuanda Meile and Cheongju KB opening the penultimate phase in a meeting between a league pioneer and one of the newcomers of the premier club competition.
Of course, much of the attention is on the Pandas on this one, given their history as the inaugural WBL Asia champions following a 3-game sweep of the 2024 games which was held in the city of Chengdu in China.
The WCBA outfit has been undefeated so far this year, having swept Group A of the Group Phase by taking care of business against Cathay Life and Akari - games in which they won by an average margin of 21.5 points.
It sure is a daunting task for the Stars in facing a team headed by Chennedy Carter and Sara Blicavs, but the WKBL champions are coming in motivated to give Korean basketball another medal in this contest.
Last year's edition in Dongguan saw Busan BNK Sum take home a bronze by beating the Ulaanbaatar Amazons, and Cheongju would surely want to bring one for themselves as well - but preferably the gold, for sure.
The Sichuan-Cheongju pairing also marks the second straight time that China and Korea will square off in the Semi-Finals after eventual champions Dongguan New Century and Busan locked horns in 2025.
For sure, the result of that should serve as an extra push for the hard-fighting Stars to gain some measure of payback for their predecessors, hoping to spoil the Pandas' plans of trying to keep the crown in China.
Battling it out in the other bracket at 19:00 would be the Tigers and Denso, with the former - who's also another league pioneer like Sichuan - hoping to finally get over the hump in their third straight appearance.
The WSBL powerhouse settled for a runner-up finish in the 2024 tilt, but failed to bring home a medal the following edition as they only salvaged 5th place by beating Al Ula Club in the Classification 5-6.
Now, they'd surely want to change the script altogether and shoot for the tiara that's long evaded them.
However, it isn't lost on the whole team that it won't be any easy, given that a challenging Iris team is standing in their path of attempting to become the first team that's not from China to rule the WBL Asia.
The W League champions of Japan are heading into the Semi-Finals as the top team of Group B with a clean 2-0 card, having taken down host team Indian Railways and the Stars - both in convincing fashion.
And they're also looking to better the finish of the team that came before them in the Fujitsu Red Wave, who copped silver in last year's tourney after bowing to the mighty Dongguan in the Last Dance.
It sure is going to be an interesting 2026 Semi-Finals ahead given the many layers each pairings offer, and fans and observers alike can watch all of the action for FREE through FIBA's official YouTube channel.
But before the Semi-Finals, a Classification 5-6 will be played at 13:00 featuring the listless sides Railways and the Sparks of the Philippines, offering a chance for both to leave this sprawling Indian city with a win.
FIBA