COLOMBO (Sri Lanka) – Sri Lanka lost the title game in the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2026 – SABA Qualifiers 56-78 to India the past weekend, yet qualified for the main event by virtue of the latter being the hosts of the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2026 scheduled in Ahmedabad (India) from Aug 13-23.
Having finished as the two teams in the Group Phase games, Sri Lanka and India entered the title game, both having qualified, but for bragging rights in the Sub-Zone rankings.
India who had survived a scare when the two met in the Group Phase, left nothing to chance with a 20-4 blitzkrieg in the first quarter. And didn’t look back thence.
Maldives defeated Bangladesh 62-59 in the third place play off.
Click here for complete results, box scores and stats of FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2026 – SABA Qualifiers.
Sri Lanka are thus the fifth team – after Australia, New Zealand and Kazakhstan – to qualify for the biennial FIBA’s flagship event for youth National Teams in Asia. India who are preparing to host the event for the first time in more than two decades are qualified automatically as hosts.
Eleven more teams will come through the Qualifiers from other FIBA Asia Sub-Zones over the next few weeks.
Teams in the East Asia Basketball Association (EABA) will play from June 2-7, 2026 in Fukuoka (Japan) to qualify four teams while the South East Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) U18 Qualifiers is scheduled to be played in Krabi (Thailand) from June 10-14, 2026 to qualify two teams.
Teams in the West Asia Basketball Association are scheduled to play the WABA U18 Qualifiers in Amman (Jordan) from July 7-11 to identify three teams to qualify, while Gulf Basketball Association will be involved in their qualifying event from July 17-22 in Doha (Qatar), from where three teams will make it to the 2026 FIBA U18 Asia Cup.
FIBA