After the thrilling action from the Men's Qualifying Tournament for next year's Asia Cup in August, it's time to transition to women's hoops in September.
From Sep. 27 to Oct. 3, the Division A teams of the FIBA Women's Asia Cup will battle it out at the Prince Hamza Hall in Amman, Jordan. This past Friday (Aug. 27), FIBA released the schedule for Division A teams, which includes India.
Traditionally, the last-placed team in Divison A is relegated to Division B and is replaced by the winner of Division B. However, as Division B was not staged when the previous edition of the Women's Asia Cup was held in 2019, India, despite being the last-placed team at that tournament, holds its place in Division A.
All eight Division A teams were divided into two groups based on the final standings of the Asia Cup's previous edition in 2019.
Groups for FIBA Women's Asia Cup 2021
| Group A | Group B |
| Japan | China |
| Korea | Australia |
| New Zealand | Chinese Taipei |
| India | Phillippines |
Schedule and format for FIBA Women's Asia Cup 2021
The schedule tips-off with Japan, the five-time Asia Cup defending champions and Tokyo 2020 silver medalists, taking on India on Sep. 27 at 12:30 p.m IST.
The highly anticipated game between China and Australia, who have competed against each other thrice in the past two years in high-level competition including most recently at the Tokyo Olympics, will tip-off on Sep. 29 at 6:30 p.m IST.
At the conclusion of the three group games, the top teams from each group directly advance to the semifinals which will be played on Oct. 2
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On Sep. 30, three classificaltion games will be played. One is the 7th place classification game which will be played between the bottom two teams of each group. The other games are classification games for the Semifinals which will be played between the nations that finished 2nd and 3rd place during the Group Phase.
So, Group A's second-placed team would face Group B's third-placed team for a spot in the semifinals against the top-seeded team from Group B and vice-versa.
The final and third-place classification games will be played on the tournament's final day - Sunday, Oct. 3.
India's schedule at FIBA Women's Asia Cup 2021
As per FIBA's release, this time Division B will be conducted and it will be held from Nov. 3 to Nov. 7, also in Amman, Jordan.
| Date, Day | Opponent | Time (local) |
| Sep. 27, Monday | Japan | 12:30 p.m |
| Sep. 28, Tuesday | Korea | 3:30 p.m |
| Sep. 29, Wednesday | New Zealand | 3:30 p.m |
So, India - the lowest-ranked squad among the Division A teams - will have to stay on it's toes to ensure it doesn't get relegated to Division B for the second time in three Asia Cups.
Feature Image courtesy FIBA.com
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