2015 FIBA Asia Championship

The 2015 FIBA Asia Championship was the 28th and last edition of the FIBA Asia Championship in men's basketball in Asia. It was organised by FIBA Asia.

At the FIBA Asia Congress held in Doha, Qatar, the Central Board awarded the hosting rights to China.^[2] On 4 December 2014, the Chinese Basketball Association acquired approval from FIBA Asia to hold the men's championship at Changsha, Hunan, with the women's championship to be held at Wuhan, Hubei.^[3]

As the winner of the tournament, China qualified for the basketball tournament at the 2016 Summer Olympics, while the Philippines, Iran, and Japan would participate at the 2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men, as stated by FIBA and the IOC in qualification quota.^[4]

The 2015 edition was the last FIBA Asia Championship, rebranded effective in 2017 as the FIBA Asia Cup and would include teams from FIBA Oceania.^[5]

Qualification

According to the FIBA Asia rules, the host nation China and 2014 FIBA Asia Cup champions Iran automatically qualified. East Asia, West Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Gulf each had two berths while Central Asia and South Asia each had one slot allotted. The other four berths were allocated to the zones according to performance in the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup. Therefore, with Chinese Taipei, Philippines, Jordan, and Japan finishing in the top four in that tournament other than Iran and China which were both direct qualifiers, East Asia gained another two berths while the Southeast Asia and West Asia gained an additional slot each.

Venues

Changsha was chosen by the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) as the venue city of the men's championship. Changsha Social Work College's gymnasium was chosen as the primary stadium, while Central South University of Forestry and Technology's gymnasium was the auxiliary stadium.^[8]

Draw

The draw was held at Changsha on 27 June 2015. Two teams that were unknown at the date of the draw, the South Asia qualifier and the last remaining team from East Asia were known a short time after.^[9]

The top four teams from 2013 were seeded; all other teams except the host team were drawn. By the time that there were three teams in each group, China chose their group, then the remaining three unseeded teams were drawn.

Included were the teams' FIBA World Rankings on the day the draw was made.

• Later determined as (ranked 61st) and (ranked 69th), respectively.

Squads

Each team had a roster of twelve players. A team may opt to allocate a roster spot to a naturalized player.

Tournament format

• Preliminary round: The sixteen teams were grouped into four groups of four. Each team played all of the teams from its group once. The top three teams with the best record advanced to the second round.
• Second round: The qualified teams from groups A and B formed Group E, while those from Groups C and D formed Group F. The results against the teams that had also qualified were carried over. The teams played the teams from the group they had not faced before. The top four teams from each group proceeded to the final round.
• Classification round:
  • Teams eliminated in the preliminary round would be in a single elimination tournament with consolation games to play for 13th place.
  • Teams eliminated in the second round would figure in a single elimination tournament with consolation games to play for 9th place.
• Final round: The remaining teams would figure in a single elimination tournament with consolation games. The champion would qualify to the 2016 Summer Olympics. The runner-up, third and fourth placer would qualify to the Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

Preliminary round

All times were local (UTC+8).

Final standings

Awards

• Most Valuable Player: Yi Jianlian^[1]
• All-Star Team:
  • PG – Jayson William
  • SG – Guo Ailun
  • SF – Samad Nikkhah Bahrami
  • PF – Yi Jianlian
  • C – Zhou Qi

Statistical leaders

Player tournament averages

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Steals

Blocks

Other statistical leaders

Team tournament averages

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Steals

Blocks

Tournament game highs

Controversies

Rescheduling of Semifinals

There was suspicion and outrage when the organizers decided to move the schedule of the semifinals game between Philippines and Japan from its original schedule of 9:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Many fans believe that this move was a way for the Chinese to procure undue advantage come the gold medal match.^[10][11]

Finals Pregame

A few hours before the championship match, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas President Manuel V. Pangilinan accused the host country of pulling off shenanigans. He twittered that the delay of the tournament electric bus to bring the Philippine squad to the game venue as it was not charged would give them less time to warm up.^[12] He claimed the SBP were not allocated tickets by the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), so the Philippine squad coaching staff and SBP officials were without tickets hours prior to the game although it was standard practice.^[13] He also cited that the Chinese players stayed at a different hotel from the players from the other nations, which violates the FIBA rules.^[14] It was also reported that when the Philippine squad finally arrived at the arena, the goal's net where they were shooting was suddenly removed for repair, which gave them even less time to warm up after the delay from the electric bus incident.^[15][16]

Officiating

The officiating of the referees were also held in question by fans and various teams playing against China, especially the games with Jordan, South Korea, Iran and the Philippines.^[17][18][10]

Behavioural issues

There was wide criticism of the rude behavior of the Chinese fans were shouting threats towards visiting teams, doing the dirty finger and throwing bottles and paper at the opposing team benches. There were incidents in which foreign fans in the venue were heckled and insulted by Chinese fans while the Chinese Police just stood by.^[19] One particular moment was when Calvin Abueva irritated Chinese supporters after he accidentally bumped Guo Ailun with his shoulder while returning to the bench following his fifth and final personal foul. There was a report that a Filipino cameraman got involved in a verbal exchange with a Chinese cameraman.^[20] Filipino veteran sportswriter Quinito Henson added that a Chinese photographer had to be restrained from scuffling with a Filipino lensman for shielding Abueva from crowd abuse.^[21]

Referees

The following referees were selected for the tournament.^[22]

• Duan Zhu
• Peng Ling
• Wen Keming
• Ye Nan
• Yuen Chun Yip
• Harja Jaladri
• Atanu Banerjee
• Snehal Bendke
• Ceciline Vincent
• Amirhossein Safarzadeh
• Naser Abu Rashed
• Yuji Hirahara
• Toru Katayose
• Arsen Andryushkin
• Yevgeniy Mikheyev
• Hwang In-tae
• Mohammad Al-Amiri
• Marwan Egho
• Rabah Noujaim
• Chan Owe Shiong
• Ricor Buaron
• Ferdinand Pascual
• Anan Daraghma
• Victor Mah
• Chen Ying-cheng
• Chung Yi-chih

References

1. ^ "Yi Jianlian named 2015 FIBA Asia Championship MVP, headlines All-Star Five". fiba.com. 3 October 2015. Archived April 29, 2018 at the Wayback Machine.
2. ^ "FIBA Asia Congress chalks out road map for future". FIBA Asia. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
3. ^ "Date, venue set for 2015 Asian Basketball Championships in China". ShanghaiDaily.com. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
4. ^ "China beat Philippines to capture title and qualify for Rio Olympics". fiba.com. 3 October 2015. Archived June 26, 2019 at the Wayback Machine.
5. ^ Dudley, George (23 January 2017). "Fiba announces Asia Cup hosts". SportsPro Media. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
6. ^ "Qatar and Bahrain in title clash of GCC Basketball C'ship". Qatar Basketball Federation. 20 October 2014.
7. ^ "SABA decides India will host the 4th SABA Championship / Qualifying Round 2015". Basketball Federation of India. 11 June 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-06-15.
8. ^ "Changsha to host 28th FIBA Asia Championship". Changsha Evening News. Changsha Municipal Government. 2015-01-11. Archived from the original on 2015-04-18. Retrieved 2015-04-19.
9. ^ "Draw results in for 2015 FIBA Asia Championship". FIBA.com. 2015-06-27. Archived September 22, 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2015-06-28.
10. ^ "Philippines vs. China: RIP Basketball". HuffPost. 7 October 2015.
11. ^ "Gilas coach Tab Baldwin not fazed by 'fake' Chinese fans, home court advantage: 'Let them play in front of real Philippine fans' | InterAksyon.com | Sports5". Archived from the original on 2016-07-24. Retrieved 2016-09-26.
12. ^ "HOME COOKING? MVP lashes out at FIBA Asia organizers as Gilas encounters troubles ahead of clash vs host China". Interaksyon. 2015-10-03. Archived from the original on 2015-10-04. Retrieved 2015-10-03.
13. ^ Ramos, Gerry (2015-10-03). "In rare Twitter rant, MVP hits out over delayed Gilas bus, lack of tickets for PH contingent". Spin. Retrieved 2015-10-03.
14. ^ Bracher, Jane (2015-10-03). "Bully moves? MVP furious as Gilas bus delayed, coaches denied tickets". Rappler. Retrieved 2015-10-03.
15. ^ "Pingris on Chinese hosts: They should've treated Filipinos well". GMA News Online. 2015-10-05. Retrieved 2015-10-06.
16. ^ "Unity needed for Asian basketball success". Sun.Star Cebu. 2015-10-14. Retrieved 2015-10-20.
17. ^ Castillo, Musong (2015-10-03). "Gilas needs all luck it can get in Fiba Asia final vs China, says Iran's Bahrami". Inquirer Sports. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
18. ^ Ramos, Gerry (2015-10-03). "Gilas players, coaches, fans left to rue officiating in Fiba Asia final against China". Spin. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
19. ^ Bracher, Jane (2015-10-03). "Gilas falls to China, settles for FIBA Asia silver". Rappler. Retrieved 2015-10-11.
20. ^ Ramos, Gerry (2015-10-04). "Accusations, heated words fly as Abueva, Gilas members trade barbs with irate home fans". Spin. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
21. ^ Trinidad, Recah (2015-10-08). "Fiba's fairness questioned". PhilBoxing. Retrieved 2015-10-20.
22. ^ Referees

External links

• Official website