BEIRUT (Lebanon) - As they say: a basketball is round, anything can happen. We saw that aplenty in Window 2 of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers in the form of teams that were ranked as underdogs topple their higher-ranked counter parts.
It was a noisy window indeed as we witnessed six out of the total 24 games set off the upset alert to the joy of the fans - although maybe not those of the losing teams.
Here are upsets of Window 2 in the Asia Cup Qualifiers ranked by difference between their spots in the latest FIBA World Ranking Presented by Nike - Men.
*FIBA World Ranking updated as of August 10, 2024
6. India (#76) v Kazakhstan (#69)
Difference in FIBA World Ranking: 7
Even though this is the "smallest" upset on the list, it was a huge victory for India basketball.
To get your first win in FIBA play in just over 3 years - snapping a 16-game losing streak - against an opponent that they hadn't defeated in nearly three decades in front of a historic crowd at home in Chennai, India won't care wherever they place on this list. They've gotten their win and will take it.
5. Thailand (#88) v Indonesia (#77)
Difference in FIBA World Ranking: 11
This feels like less of an upset since Thailand had already beaten Indonesia in the February window. Still, Thailand were reeling off a big time loss against Australia, Indonesia were coming off a "good" loss against Korea and ready to host their Southeast Asian rivals.
Thailand scored an Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers high of 112 points and dominated from start to finish, not leaving much room for drama in this one.
4. Philippines (#34) v New Zealand (#22)
Difference in FIBA World Ranking: 12
Among the upsets listed, this is the most high-profiled clash between two teams as both are World Cup 2023 and Olympic Qualifying Tournament squads. There was certainly a lot of anticipation heading into this one as the Philippines had never defeated the Tall Blacks before.
They pulled it off and admirably so as a team. Gilas Pilipinas rolled on to sweep through the window and remain undefeated, all the while clinching a spot at Asia Cup next year.
New Zealand also qualified for the regional flagship competition as well, so keep your fingers crossed for a rematch - after the two teams face again in the February window in New Zealand.
3. Qatar (#101) v India (#76)
Difference in FIBA World Ranking: 25
It's a bit wild that India are already on this list twice - albeit on different sides of the upset this time (hold that thought). This time, it was because of their opening game of the window loss to Qatar.
The visiting national team from the Gulf were quick to flex their strengths being faster, quicker, and stronger on their way to a win over an India team that just couldn't seem to find their target from outside the arc. This proved to only be a sign of bigger things to come for Qatar. You'll find out why down below in a bit.
2. UAE (#111) v Bahrain (#67)
Difference in FIBA World Ranking: 44
UAE are the second lowest ranked team in the Asia Cup Qualifiers (as well as the Power Rankings), but they didn't seem to care. They put up a fight against Lebanon before eventually being able to claim their first win of the Qualifiers over Bahrain.
There wasn't much drama as UAE controlled the momentum for most of the past, thanks to veteran Qais Alshabebi and debutant Demarco Dickerson who recorded the Asia Cup Qualifiers' first-ever triple-double in this game.
1. Qatar (#101) v Iran (#28)
Difference in FIBA World Ranking: 73
Here's the thing about the "biggest" upset of Window 2: These two teams had been through this dance already over six years ago in the World Cup 2019 Qualifiers. Back in 2018, Qatar had built a lead of as large as 10 points in the fourth quarter before allowing Iran to storm back and win the game on an Arsalan Kazemi put-back dunk at the buzzer.
Kazemi was present in this rematch as were some other key characters (Sajjad Mashayekhi and Navid Rezaeifar from Iran and Qatar's Faris Avdic) and the fourth quarter ended on a clutch basket made by Iran - but the results were different.
This time, Qatar were the ones to mount a comeback in the fourth quarter before going into overtime that was forced by a Matin Aghajanpour three-pointer to winning it on a clutch Mike Lewis basket.
This game had it all whether it was the difference in prestige (73 spot difference in World Ranking), historical background (Qatar had lost five straight games to Iran in major FIBA Asia competitions all the way back to 2005), personnel familiarity (Hakan Demir had coached Iran as recent as the last window), and just pure competitiveness throughout the 40+5 minutes.
If there ever was and upset alert you would not want to miss, it was definitely this one.
FIBA