JEDDAH (Saudi Arabia) – A coach can never too careful or cautious while preparing his team for a major basketball competition like the FIBA Asia Cup 2025. After all, it is FIBA’s flagship competition in Asia.
Therefore, none can blame the coaches of the 16 teams if they were cautious or guarded in their comments about their team’s prospects after the Groups were set following the Draw for the FIBA Asia Cup 2025. That didn’t there was any lack of excitement in their comments.
Here’s a quick look at who said what (this is an evolving story. So watch this space for the comment from your favourite team):
Our group this year is very similar to the FIBA Asia Cup 2022. Iran and Syria were in that group as well. Iran is always a strong team. They are physical and have played together a long time, so their teamwork is very good. We haven't seen Syria play since 2022, so we will need to start that scout as soon as possible. Guam was in our Asia Cup qualifying group so we have a good idea of the challenges they pose and will need to be ready for their fast pace style.
Our group is undoubtedly one of the most competitive and challenging. Each of these teams brings a unique style and a high level of experience to the court. However, we are fully committed to embracing this challenge. We respect our opponents, but we also believe in our growth, preparation, and fighting spirit.
It will be a challenge but we are gaining confidence from our recent play. As always, we will do our best to put together scouting reports that help our players and increase our chances to succeed. Obviously, China and Jordan have been near the top of Asia basketball. Saudi Arabia will have an advantage being the home team. We look forward to this challenge.
I’m excited that we will be playing 2 teams that we have never faced. We also look forward to another chance to play Japan. The most important thing for us in our preparation is that we are healthy and fit, since majority of our team do not currently play basketball professionally.
It’s a tough pool. The Philippines are a high-quality side and absolutely a medal contender at this tournament. Chinese Taipei are a dangerous team, they proved that with their impressive win over the Philippines in February. They’re more than capable of making a deep run. We don’t know a lot about Iraq at this stage, but they’ve had some big results to qualify and will no doubt be motivated to make an impact back at Asia Cup.
FIBA