IND/SRI - India and Sri Lanka 'seeded' into Semis

NEW DELHI (FIBA Asia Championship) - India and Sri Lanka have been virtually seeded directly into the Semi-Finals of the SAARC division qualifying tournament of the Middle Asia qualifiers for the FIBA Asia Championship.

Five teams have been drawn into two groups with the top two teams playing the criss-cross semi-final play-offs.

India and Sri Lanka have been drawn in Group A and the only game in the group will decide the position of the teams, with both having already qualified for the Semi-Finals.

Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal comprise Group B.

The winners of the tournament will join winners of the 3rd FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup Lebanon, East Asia champions Korea and SEABA’s Malaysia in Group A of the Preliminary Round of the FIBA Asia Championship that will take place in Wuhan, China, between 15 and 25 September.

The draw for the FIBA Asia Championship took place last week in the host city.

India and Sri Lanka were two of the four teams which represented Middle Asia two years ago in Tianjin, finishing 13th and 16th respectively.

The tournament will mark the first international outing for American Kenny Natt (pictured) who took over as the coach of the Indian team back in May.

The schedule for the tournament is as follows (all times local; GMT+6; CET+4)

13 July
9am - Group B: Nepal v Bhutan
5pm - Group A: India v Sri Lanka
7pm - Group B: Bhutan v Bangladesh

14 July
9am - Group B: Bangladesh v Nepal
5pm - Semi-Final 1: A1 v B2
7pm - Semi-Final 2: B1 v A2

15 July
3pm: Loser SF1 v Loser SF2
5pm - Final: Winners SF1 v Winners SF2

FIBA Asia