The Malaysia Men’s National Basketball Team is gearing up for an exciting journey as they prepare to participate in the Second Round of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Pre-Qualifiers in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
After a grueling competition at the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) Invitational Tournament, the national players took only one day off before embarking on a three-day training camp. The camp was aimed at fine-tuning their skills and strategies for the upcoming games.
Head coach Jeff Viernes, expressed his optimism about the team’s preparation and the upcoming games. “To be honest, this is the first time we are able to prepare for the Pre-Qualifiers, especially the first game against Singapore,” he said. “At least I already prepared the game plan, we just need to execute here in training, I’m expecting the players to totally focus on the training.”
The team will leave for Mongolia on February 21st and face Singapore, Guam, and Hong Kong in the Group F of the second round of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Pre-Qualifiers. Despite the challenging task, the team is confident in their abilities and will give their all to make it to the next round. Stay tuned to the MABA website for updates on the team’s journey!
How will teams qualify for Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers?
The Pre-Qualifiers will be played in two rounds. In the first round, the teams in each region (Western and Eastern) were divided into two Groups with Groups A and B for the Western Region and Groups C and D for the Eastern Region. These groups played in separate Round Robin tournaments to qualify the three best ranked teams to the Second Round.
In the Second Round, the three best ranked teams in Groups A and B have combined as Group E, while the three best ranked teams in Groups C and D have combined as Group F. Each team will play against the three new teams in their respective groups. The records of each team are carried over from the First Round.
The four best ranked teams in each group will qualify for the Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers.
Which teams are already in the Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers?
The teams that are already qualified for the Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers are the teams that played in Asia Cup 2022. The teams are defending champions Australia, Lebanon, New Zealand, Jordan, Iran, Japan, China, Korea, Indonesia, Chinese Taipei, Syria, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kazakstan, and India.