Jordan hosts FIBA U-16 Women’s Asian Championship

AMMAN — The Kingdom’s U16 women’s basketball team gears up to play the FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championship as Jordan hosts Divisions A & B this week tipping off on Monday at Prince Hamzah Arena.

Jordan will play their first match against the Maldives in Group B which also includes the Philippines and Hong Kong, while Group A includes Malaysia, Iran, Singapore and Guam.

Jordan will be hosting the FIBA U-16 Women’s Asian Championship for the second consecutive edition. Playing in Division B, Jordan is participating for the third time. Last year, Jordan settled for 8th place after they had played once before in 2013 finishing 11th. 

Division A teams will also be playing in two groups, with the top four teams qualifying for the FIBA U-17 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2024 in Mexico. Australia, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and Syria are in Group A while China, Japan, New Zealand and Samoa are in Group B.

Australia beat Japan 61-60 in the final of the previous edition to win the competition and qualify for the FIBA U-17 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 alongside runners-up Japan, New Zealand and Korea. 

On another note, Jordan’s senior women’s team will play at the Women’s Asian Cup Division B in August. The Kingdom hosted the Asia Cup Divisions A & B in 2021 finishing second after Lebanon in Division B, marking the first time the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2021 Division A was held in an Arab country. Lebanon were promoted to Division A for the 2023 tournament. 

Making it to the final was an achievement in itself after the national team was absent from Asian competitions since 1995. Jordan’s senior team was back to Asian competition after an absence of 26 years when the squad first took part in Shizuoka, Japan in 1995. 

That historic participation was the Kingdom’s first ever Asian appearance for a women’s sports team. Jordan then won one match, beating Indonesia, and lost to Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Malaysia to finish 11th.

“We are working towards making the developments in the game sustainable,” Jordan Basketball Federation board Chairman Mohammad Ellayan told the press as the JBF introduced the coaching squads for the age divisions.

“The bigger the base of players, especially through serious plans for age divisions, the stronger our competitive edge,” he added 

In the FIBA U-18 Women’s Asian Championship, Jordan settled for 6th place in the event held in India last year. The top team in the tournament, Australia, moved to Division A. Jordan finished 8th in 1996, hosted the event in 2014 finishing 11th and were 6th in 2022.

In men’s events, Jordan’s best showing at the FIBA Asia Cup (previously named FIBA Asia Championship) was third in 2009 and runner-up in 2011. In 2022, Jordan played at the FIBA Asia Cup finishing fourth. 

On the world scene, Jordan has reached the FIBA Basketball World Cup — the world’s premier basketball competition three times — in 2010, 2019 and 2023. The basketball squad was the first and only Jordanian team to actually reach a World Cup in a team sport alongside the junior men’s team in 1995.