Jordan basketball aims to book semifinal slot at FIBA U18 Women’s Asian Championship

AMMAN — Jordan’s U18 women’s basketball team plays Samoa on Friday in a qualifying match to the semis of the FIBA U18 Women’s Asian Championship Division B currently under way in India.

Thailand plays Malaysia in the other qualifying match as the Philippines and Mongolia, who took the top spots in the two groups, automatically booked their spots in the semis.

Playing at the championship for the third time, Jordan lost to Mongolia 48-36 and unexpectedly lost to Hong Kong 43-41 in an earlier match after they scored a 40-36 win over Malaysia in their opening Group B game.

Group A included Thailand , Samoa, the Philippines and the Maldives. The top team in the tournament will move to Division A.

Earlier this summer, Jordan’s U16 national team hosted the FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championship Division B and settled for 8th place. Jordan played at the U16 tournament once in 2013 finishing 11th. Jordan also took part in FIBA Asia U18 in 1996 finishing 8th, and hosted the event in 2014 finishing 11th. 

Jordan also hosted the Women’s Asia Cup Divisions A & B in 2021 finishing second in Division B, marking the first time the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2021 Division A was held in an Arab country. Lebanon were promoted to Division A for the 2023 tournament. 

Making it to the final after the national team was absent from Asian competitions since 1995, was an achievement in itself. Jordan’s senior team was back to Asian competition after an absence of 26 years when the squad first took part in Shizuoka, Japan in 1995. That historic participation was the Kingdom’s first ever Asian appearance for a women’s sports team. Jordan then won one match, beating Indonesia, and lost to Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Malaysia to finish 11th.

In men’s events, Jordan’s best showing at the FIBA Asia Cup (previously named FIBA Asia Championship) was third in 2009 and runner-up in 2011. This year, Jordan played at the FIBA Asia Cup finishing fourth. 

On the world scene, Jordan previously reached the FIBA Basketball World Cup — the world’s premier basketball competition twice — in 2010 and 2019. The basketball squad was the first and only Jordanian team to actually reach a World Cup in a team sport alongside the junior men’s team in 1995.