FIBA Asia Championship

FIBA Asia Championship

Upcoming season or competition: 2017 FIBA Asia Championship
Formerly	ABC Championship
Sport	Basketball
Founded	1960
Inaugural season	1960
No. of teams	16
Country	FIBA Asia member nations
Continent	FIBA Asia (Asia)
Most recent champion(s)	China (16th title)
Most titles	China (16 titles)
Official website	FIBA Asia

The FIBA Asia Championship for Men (formerly Asian Basketball Confederation Championship) is an international basketball tournament which takes place every two years between men's national teams of Asia. This is the Asian qualifying tournament for the FIBA Basketball World Cup and the Olympic basketball tournament. The 2013 and 2015 will be the last Asian Championship to serve as qualifiers to the FIBA Basketball World Cup and the Olympic Games.

The 2017 FIBA Asia Championship will be the last Asian Championship to be held as it will be re-formatted in 2021.

History

Beginnings

The Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Championship was inaugurated in Manila in 1960. The championship was held to find Asia's best team and for qualification to the World Championship and the Olympics. On the next four tournaments, the Philippines won 3 with the Japanese beating the Filipinos on 1965. Korea, Japan and the Philippines split the next 3 championships until China debuted on 1975 at Bangkok with the championship, where they've dominated ever since.

Chinese dominance

From 1975 to 2007, there were only two instances where China didn't win the championship. In 1985, the Philippines defeated a full-strength Chinese team, which were by then five-time defending champions, in the championship round. The Chinese then won every game in the championship until 1997, where they to lost to South Korea in the semifinals where they complained about the climate in Riyadh. The Koreans beat the Japanese in the final, but the Chinese would then start a championship streak of four tournaments, led by Yao Ming.

Renaming

By 2005, the tournament had been renamed as the FIBA Asia Championship; in that year's tournament in Doha, the Chinese easily won against the Lebanese in the final. During the 2007 Championship, the Chinese did not send their "A" team since they had already qualified to the Olympics by virtue of hosting it. In this championship, West Asian teams started to compete with the traditional East Asian powers, as evidenced of an all-West Asian final when Iran defeated Lebanon. In 2009, Iran defeated the Chinese team A in the 2009 final to become only the 3rd team to successfully defend the championship. The 2009 championship started a streak of finals contested between a team from the Middle East and a team from the Far East; in 2011, Iran was eliminated by Jordan in the quarterfinals, which would then lose to hosts China by one point in the final. The 2013 Championship would be the first to be hosted outside East Asia since 2005 in the Philippines, the hosts, emerged as finalists; China had been eliminated by Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals, which were then defeated by the Iranians, who then beat the Filipinos in the Final.

Removal of qualification status

As FIBA implemented a new cycle and tournament format, the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship held in Manila and the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship held in Changsha were the last Asian Championships to serve as qualification either to the FIBA Basketball World Cup and the Olympic Games. The 2017 FIBA Asia Championship will mark firsts and lasts for the Asian Championship, this will be the first Asian Championship as a standalone tournament (meaning will not serve as qualifier either for the Basketball World Cup or the Olympic Games). The 2017 Tournament will also expected to be the last Asian Championships to be ever held and under a 2-year cycle. Starting 2021, the Asian Championships and the FIBA Oceania Championship will merge into a one tournament to be known as the FIBA Asia-Pacific Championship. It will be held every 4-years like the EuroBasket, AfroBasket and Americas Championship.

Qualification

Qualification is via the different FIBA Asia subzones. The East, Gulf, Southeast and West subzones receive two berths each, while the Central and South zones get one each. The host and the champion from the preceding FIBA Asia Cup also get a berth each. Each subzone conducts a qualification tournament up to a year before the championship to determine the qualifying teams. The other four berths are distributed to the subzones in reference to their performance in the previous year's FIBA Asia Cup, with the subzone receiving an extra berth for each team in the top four excluding the champion and the host.

Tournament format

There had been a variety of tournament formats used before. Most were similar to the current format of two group stages and a knockout stage. The current format, as first applied in 2009, is a multistage tournament. The 16 teams are grouped in four groups in the preliminary round. The teams play against each other once; the top three teams advance to the second round, where they're grouped into two groups of six teams, and they'll play three more teams from another preliminary round group once each. The top four teams in the second round advance to the final round, which is a single elimination tournament.

Teams eliminated in the preliminary round play in a single-elimination tournament for 13th place, while those out of the second round play for 9th place. There are also classification games for teams eliminated in the final round for 5th place.

Summary

Year	Host		Final				Third Place Game
			Champion	Score	Second Place		Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
1960 Details	Manila		Philippines	No playoffs	Taiwan		Japan	No playoffs	South Korea
1963 Details	Taipei		Philippines	91–77	Taiwan		South Korea	No playoffs	Thailand
1965 Details	Kuala Lumpur		Japan	No playoffs	Philippines		South Korea	No playoffs	Thailand
1967 Details	Seoul		Philippines	No playoffs	South Korea		Japan	No playoffs	Indonesia
1969 Details	Bangkok		South Korea	No playoffs	Japan		Philippines	No playoffs	Taiwan
1971 Details	Tokyo		Japan	No playoffs	Philippines		South Korea	No playoffs	Taiwan
1973 Details	Manila		Philippines	No playoffs	South Korea		Taiwan	No playoffs	Japan
1975 Details	Bangkok		China	No playoffs	Japan		South Korea	No playoffs	India
1977 Details	Kuala Lumpur		China	No playoffs	South Korea		Japan	No playoffs	Malaysia
1979 Details	Nagoya		China	No playoffs	Japan		South Korea	No playoffs	Philippines
1981 Details	Kolkata		China	No playoffs	South Korea		Japan	No playoffs	Philippines
1983 Details	Hong Kong		China	95–71	Japan		South Korea	83–60	Kuwait
1985 Details	Kuala Lumpur		Philippines	No playoffs	South Korea		China	No playoffs	Malaysia
1987 Details	Bangkok		China	86–79 OT	South Korea		Japan	89–75	Philippines
1989 Details	Beijing		China	102–72	South Korea		Chinese Taipei	69–58	Japan
1991 Details	Kobe		China	104–88	South Korea		Japan	63–60	Chinese Taipei
1993 Details	Jakarta		China	93–72	North Korea		South Korea	86–70	Iran
1995 Details	Seoul		China	87–78	South Korea		Japan	69–63	Chinese Taipei
1997 Details	Riyadh		South Korea	78–76	Japan		China	94–68	Saudi Arabia
1999 Details	Fukuoka		China	63–45	South Korea		Saudi Arabia	93–67	Chinese Taipei
2001 Details	Shanghai		China	97–63	Lebanon		South Korea	95–94 OT	Syria
2003 Details	Harbin		China	106–96	South Korea		Qatar	77–67	Lebanon
2005 Details	Doha		China	77–61	Lebanon		Qatar	89–77	South Korea
2007 Details	Tokushima		Iran	74–69	Lebanon		South Korea	80–76	Kazakhstan
2009 Details	Tianjin		Iran	70–52	China		Jordan	80–66	Lebanon
2011 Details	Wuhan		China	70–69	Jordan		South Korea	70–68	Philippines
2013 Details	Manila		Iran	85–71	Philippines		South Korea	75–57	Chinese Taipei
2015 Details	Changsha		China	78–67	Philippines		Iran	68–63	Japan

Medal table

Map of the countries' best results.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	16	1	2	19
2	Philippines	5	4	1	10
3	Iran	3	0	1	4
4	South Korea	2	11	11	24
5	Japan	2	5	7	14
6	Lebanon	0	3	0	3
7	Chinese Taipei	0	2	2	4
8	Jordan	0	1	1	2
9	North Korea	0	1	0	1
10	Qatar	0	0	2	2
11	Saudi Arabia	0	0	1	1
Total		28	28	28	84

MVP awards

Manila

Kuala Lumpur

Seoul

Bangkok

Taipei

Kolkata

Hong Kong

Beijing

Jakarta

Riyadh

Shanghai

Harbin

Doha

Tianjin

Wuhan

Changsha

Host cities, outside Japan, of the championships. Cities denoted by blue pogs had hosted more than once.

Tokyo

Nagoya

Kobe

Fukuoka

Tokushima

Host cities within Japan of the championships.

Year	MVP	Team
1960	Carlos Badion	Philippines
1983	Gou Yonglin	China
1985	Allan Caidic	Philippines
1987	Lee Chung-hee	South Korea
1995	Hur Jae	South Korea
1997	Chun Hee-chul	South Korea
1999	Hu Weidong	China
2001	Yao Ming	China
2003	Yao Ming	China
2005	Yao Ming	China
2007	Hamed Haddadi	Iran
2009	Hamed Haddadi	Iran
2011	Yi Jianlian	China
2013	Hamed Haddadi	Iran
2015	Yi Jianlian	China

Tournament leaders

• Stats for tournaments from 2007 and beyond.^[1][2]
• Minimum of five games played (GP).

All-time

Highest scoring averages

Rank	Player	Team	GP	Pts	PPG	Tournaments
1	Michael Madanly	Syria	7	232	33.1	2007
2	Sani Sakakini	Palestine	8	179	22.4	2015
3	Jamal Abu-Shamala	Palestine	8	172	21.5	2015
4	Fadi El Khatib	Lebanon	17	339	19.9	2007, 2009
5	Rasheim Wright	Jordan	26	504	19.4	2007, 2009, 2011
6	Andray Blatche	Philippines	9	160	17.8	2015
7	Joe Vogel	Lebanon	8	139	17.4	2007
8	Alex Legion	Jordan	8	138	17.3	2015
9	Trey Johnson	Qatar	9	148	16.4	2015
10	Sam Hoskin	Lebanon	9	147	16.3	2011

Cumulative top scorers

Rank	Player	Team	GP	Pts	PPG
1	Hamed Haddadi	Iran	44	649	14.8
2	Samad Nikkhah Bahrami	Iran	44	615	14.0
3	Yi Jianlian	China	36	551	15.3
5	Rasheim Wright	Jordan	26	504	19.4
4	Mehdi Kamrani	Iran	44	436	9.9
6	Hamed Afagh	Iran	44	433	9.8
7	Anton Ponomarev	Kazakhstan	33	414	12.5
8	Lin Chih-chieh	Chinese Taipei	40	394	9.9
9	Saad Abdulrahman	Qatar	37	386	10.4
10	Kosuke Takeuchi	Japan	32	363	11.3
	Kim Joo-sung	South Korea	35	363	10.4

Per tournament

Points

Year	Player	Team	GP	Pts	PPG
2007	Michael Madanly	Syria	7	232	33.1
2009	Rasheim Wright	Jordan	9	186	20.7
2011	Marcus Douthit	Philippines	9	197	21.9
2013	Hamed Haddadi	Iran	9	169	18.8
2015	Sani Sakakini	Palestine	8	179	22.4

Rebounds

Year	Player	Team	GP	Reb	RPG
2007	Wissam Yakoub	Syria	7	74	10.6
2009	Hamed Haddadi	Iran	9	118	13.1
2011	Marcus Douthit	Philippines	9	110	12.2
2013	Hamed Haddadi	Iran	9	90	10.0
2015	Sani Sakakini	Palestine	8	101	12.6

Assists

Year	Player	Team	GP	Ast	APG
2007	Sambhaji Kadam	India	7	28	4.0
2009	Samad Nikkhah Bahrami	Iran	9	43	4.8
2011	Mario Wuysang	Indonesia	5	32	6.4
2013	Mehdi Kamrani	Iran	9	59	6.6
2015	Imad Qahwash	Palestine	8	48	6.0

Participating nations

20th century

Nation	1960	1963	1965	1967	1969	1971	1973	1975	1977	1979	1981	1983	1985	1987	1989	1991	1993	1995	1997	1999
Bahrain									12th	12th				13th		15th			10th	12th
Bangladesh										13th					15th		18th		15th
China								1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	3rd	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	3rd	1st
Chinese Taipei	2nd	2nd	5th	5th	4th	4th	3rd						6th	5th	3rd	4th	5th	4th	6th	4th
Hong Kong	5th	6th	8th	9th	9th	9th	11th	9th	10th	11th	10th	7th	13th	14th	13th	11th	13th	15th	14th	13th
India			7th	6th	5th	6th	6th	4th	7th	5th	5th	6th	10th	6th	6th	13th		13th	11th
Indonesia	6th			4th			8th	10th	13th			12th	11th	12th	14th	14th	12th	18th	12th
Iran							5th				8th	5th	8th		5th	6th	4th	10th	8th
Iraq									6th	8th				9th
Japan	3rd		1st	3rd	2nd	1st	4th	2nd	3rd	2nd	3rd	2nd	5th	3rd	4th	3rd	7th	3rd	2nd	5th
Jordan												8th	9th	10th		8th	10th	17th	7th
Kazakhstan																		5th	13th
Kuwait								12th				4th				12th	9th	11th		6th
Kyrgyzstan																		8th
Lebanon																				7th
Macau												15th		15th
Malaysia	7th	5th	6th	8th	7th	5th	9th	8th	4th	7th	6th	11th	4th	7th	9th	17th	14th	14th		15th
North Korea																5th	2nd
Pakistan					8th		12th	11th	9th	6th	9th	13th	14th		10th		17th
Palestine
Philippines	1st	1st	2nd	1st	3rd	2nd	1st	5th	5th	4th	4th	9th	1st	4th	8th	7th	11th	12th	9th	11th
Qatar																16th
Saudi Arabia															7th	9th	6th	6th	4th	3rd
Singapore		7th	9th	10th		8th	10th	7th	11th	10th	11th	14th	12th	11th	11th	10th	16th
South Korea	4th	3rd	3rd	2nd	1st	3rd	2nd	3rd	2nd	3rd	2nd	3rd	2nd	2nd	2nd	2nd	3rd	2nd	1st	2nd
Sri Lanka								13th	14th		12th		15th			18th		19th
Syria																				8th
Thailand		4th	4th	7th	6th	7th	7th	6th	8th	9th	7th	10th	7th	8th	12th		15th	16th		14th
United Arab Emirates																	8th	9th	5th	10th
Uzbekistan																		7th		9th
Vietnam		8th	10th
Total	7	8	10	10	9	9	12	13	14	13	12	15	15	15	15	18	18	19	15	15

21st century

Nation	2001	2003	2005	2007	2009	2011	2013	2015	Years
Bahrain						15th	12th		8
Bangladesh									4
China	1st	1st	1st	10th	2nd	1st	5th	1st	21
Chinese Taipei	7th	11th	9th	6th	5th	8th	4th	13th	23
Hong Kong	11th	13th	15th	13th			10th	12th	26
India	8th	8th	12th	15th	13th	14th	11th	8th	24
Indonesia			14th	12th	15th	13th			17
Iran		5th	6th	1st	1st	5th	1st	3rd	16
Iraq									3
Japan	6th	6th	5th	8th	10th	7th	9th	4th	27
Jordan		10th	7th	5th	3rd	2nd	7th	9th	14
Kazakhstan		7th	10th	4th	9th		8th	11th	8
Kuwait	12th	12th	13th	14th	11th			14th	12
Kyrgyzstan									1
Lebanon	2nd	4th	2nd	2nd	4th	6th		5th	7
Macau									2
Malaysia		16th	16th			11th	15th	16th	24
North Korea									2
Pakistan									10
Palestine								10th	1
Philippines		15th		9th	8th	4th	2nd	2nd	26
Qatar	5th	3rd	3rd	7th	6th	16th	6th	7th	9
Saudi Arabia			8th				13th		8
Singapore	14th							15th	17
South Korea	3rd	2nd	4th	3rd	7th	3rd	3rd	6th	28
Sri Lanka					16th				7
Syria	4th	9th		11th		9th			5
Thailand	13th						14th		19
United Arab Emirates	10th			16th	12th	10th			8
Uzbekistan	9th	14th	11th		14th	12th			7
Vietnam									2
Total	14	16	16	16	16	16	15	16

General statistics

All-time statistics, as of the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship.

Team	Played	Won	Lost	%Won
Bahrain	59	20	39	33.90%
Bangladesh	25	0	25	0.00%
China	167	155	12	92.81%
Chinese Taipei	184	113	71	61.41%
Hong Kong	191	53	138	27.75%
India	172	71	101	41.28%
Indonesia	116	32	84	27.59%
Iran	124	82	42	66.13%
Iraq	25	13	12	52.00%
Japan	212	141	71	66.51%
Jordan	105	56	49	53.33%
Kazakhstan	61	28	33	45.90%
Kuwait	84	29	55	34.52%
Kyrgyzstan	8	3	5	37.50%
Lebanon	66	40	26	60.61%
Macau	12	0	12	0.00%
Malaysia	175	59	116	33.71%
North Korea	14	10	4	71.43%
Pakistan	73	21	52	28.77%
Palestine	8	4	4	50.00%
Philippines	205	136	69	66.34%
Qatar	69	36	33	52.17%
Saudi Arabia	57	29	28	50.88%
Singapore	128	36	91	28.13%
South Korea	229	177	52	77.29%
Sri Lanka	46	0	46	0.00%
Syria	35	15	20	42.86%
Thailand	145	57	88	39.31%
United Arab Emirates	56	22	34	39.29%
Uzbekistan	45	17	28	37.78%
Vietnam	17	1	16	5.88%

See also

• FIBA Basketball World Cup
• Basketball at the Summer Olympics
• Basketball at the Asian Games
• FIBA Asia Under-20 Championship
• FIBA Asia Under-18 Championship
• FIBA Asia Under-16 Championship
• FIBA Asia Championship for Women
• FIBA Asia Cup

References

1. "FIBA Archive", FIBA.com, 2015-10-03, retrieved 2015-10-13
2. "FIBA Archive: highest scoring average in FIBA Asia Championship", FIBA.com, 2015-10-03, retrieved 2015-10-14

External links

• FIBA Asia official website