With Indonesia becoming Asia's new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, the FIBA Asia Cup in Jakarta has been called off for next year.
The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) on Friday decided to move the matches of the Asia Cup to July 2022.
Organizers made this decision after more daily cases and deaths were reported, with daily figures that were much higher than those in hard-hit India.
“This evaluation has taken into consideration multiple aspects such as current travel restrictions, the well-being of the participants, fan access and experience, and the objective of ensuring the highest quality of events,” said the memo sent by FIBA Executive Director-Asia Hagop Khajirian to all the members of FIBA Asia.
The Philippines was preparing to send the Gilas Pilipinas national men’s basketball to the games.
And coach Tab Baldwin has already made up his mind on the players, who will be part of the squad in the tournament originally slated from August 17 to 29 in Jakarta.
“Having concluded this process and after coordination with Regional Office Oceania, the following calendar update of FIBA Asia was confirmed. The FIBA Asia Cup 2021 will be played as planned in Jakarta, Indonesia, but is rescheduled to July 2022 right after the window of the FIBA World Cup Asia Qualifiers,” said organizers sent to participating countries.
Also joining are host Indonesia, and Jordan, along with Lebanon, Bahrain, Iran, Kazakhstan, Syria, South Korea, China, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
Chinese Taipei, Guam, India, Saudi Arabia, and Palestine will have to undergo a second round of qualifiers to earn their seats.
The second round will go on as scheduled in August this year.
