Jordan finishes 3rd in W. Asia, moves to Asia Cup

AMMAN — Lebanon was crowned champ of the West Asian Basketball Association (WABA) Championship, which ended on the weekend with Jordan grabbing the third place.

The top four qualifiers will now play at the 29th Asia Cup to be held in Lebanon from August 17-27. Jordan will be joined by runner up Iran, fourth placed Iraq and fifth place Syria with Lebanon qualifying automatically.

The six-team tournament hosted at Fuheis Club saw Jordan beat Syria 78-70, Iraq 66-62, Palestine 90-75 before losing 72-61 to Lebanon and 82-59 to Iran. Lebanon edged Iran 65-62 to win the title. 

The Asia Cup will no longer be held under a two-year cycle. Starting 2017, the Asia Championships and the FIBA Oceania Championship will merge into one tournament to be known as the FIBA Asia Cup. It will be held every four years like the EuroBasket, AfroBasket and Americas Championship. The tournament will determine the composition of the joint FIBA Asia and FIBA Oceania qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA World Cup. 

Jordan first won the West Asia title in 2002. In 2016, Jordan beat Lebanon 83-82 to clinch second place at the WABA to advance alongside Iran and Iraq to the FIBA Asia Challenge where they finished third.

In 2014, Jordan won the WABA title for the second time in the absence of both the Lebanese and senior Iranian teams, and represented the West Asia zone at the fifth FIBA Asia Cup (previously known as the FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup between 2004 and 2010 and FIBA Asia Cup from 2012 to 2014).

China, as well defending FIBA Asia Championship titleholders Iran had automatically qualified.

The champion was given an automatic berth to the following year's FIBA Asia Championship. Qatar was a champ in 2004, Jordan in 2008, Lebanon in 2010 and Iran in 2012, 2014, and 2016.

In WABA 2010, Jordan finished second behind Iran and qualified to the 26th FIBA Asia Championship where, for the first time in the country's history, Jordan reached the final but lost the chance qualify to the 2012 Olympic Games after losing the final 70-69 to China.

Jordan then played at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) for Men, but lost to Puerto Rico and Greece and was eliminated. The OQT gave Asia's second and third teams a chance to qualify to the London Games basketball event.

Although Jordan reached the World Championship in 2010 — and it was the only Jordanian team to actually reach a world championship in a team sport alongside the Junior team in 1995 — official support for Jordan's second most popular game is seen as below par by most observers, leading to a decline in the game locally and less competitive advantage on the regional scene.

JORDAN'S WEST ASIAN RECORD