India was playing the qualifying tournament at the King Abdullah Sports City Hall in Jeddah and finished their tournament in the second position with one victory and one loss in Group H and qualified for the Asia Cup 2022.
Group H had three teams India, Saudi Arabia and Palestine. India is among the 16 teams who are going forward in the Tournament to play in Jakarta, Indonesia in July 2022. India got a close victory in their bag with a scoreline of 79-77 against Palestine after they lost their first match against the Saudis. Palestine lost both the matches and returned home without a single win.
In the opening match India was completely disappointed as being the 78th ranked team they lost against 87th ranked Saudi Arabia. Joginder Singh with 17 points and 4 assists was the top scorer with Amritpal Singh had nine rebounds. In the second match against Palestine, it was a knockout situation for the Indian team and Palestine started with a lead of 12 points and the scores were 25-13 at the end of the first quarter. Though India made a comeback in the second and third Quarters with scores of 23-21 and 16-15 respectively. In the last quarter, the game took a thrilling turn and at one point the scores levelled up to 67 each. Palestine got back with a three-pointer by Ahmed Haroon but was not able to grab the layup by Sani Sakakini and Palestine lost the game by two points.
FIBA was originally scheduled for the last week but due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, it was postponed.
Indian 🇮🇳Cagers⛹🏻 qualify for Fiba Asia Cup 2021🏀#indiabasketball #basketballfederationofindia #bfi #fibaasiacup #fibaasiaqualifiers2021 pic.twitter.com/QB12OXceDq
— #IndiaBasketball (@BFI_basketball) August 22, 2021
