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Twenty-four teams will slug it out for 16 seats as the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup takes place in Bengaluru, India, Saturday evening. FIBA
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By Mark Mañez
MANILA - Gilas Pilipinas will kick off their 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers campaign as they were grouped with perennial rivals South Korea and neighbors Indonesia and Thailand at the conclusion of the Draw Ceremony held in Bengaluru, India, Saturday evening.
Asian basketball veterans Asami Yoshida of Japan and former Gilas Pilipinas captain Jimmy Alapag assisted in the determination of the groups.
Alapag, who currently steers San Miguel Alab Pilipinas in the ASEAN Basketball League, steered the Nationals in several Asian championship appearances made its presence in Sevilla, Spain during the 2014 FIBA World Cup.
Yoshida, on the other hand, helped steer Japan to an eighth-place finish at the 2016 Rio Games and is
a vital cog in their dominance in the Asian women's basketball scene, winning three straight FIBA Women's Asia Cups in the process.
The upcoming Asian joust will follow the same home-and-away format applied during the qualification for this year's FIBA Basketball World Cup in China.
Qualification process to the tournament will commence in late November of the current year.
Complete Results of the Draw:
Southeast/East Asia and Oceania
Group A: Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea
Group B: Chinese Taipei, Japan, Hong Kong, P.R.China
Group C: Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Guam
West/South/Central Asia and Gulf
Group D: Bahrain, Lebanon, India, Iraq
Group E: Saudi Arabia, Syria, Qatar, Iran
Group F: Jordan, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Palestine
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