India drawn in Group A of FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan (China)

Three weeks ago, India defeated South Asian rivals to win the SABA Basketball Championship in Kathmandu, and thus, qualifed for the 5th FIBA Asia Cup. And on Sunday, June 8th, the draw for the championship - previously known as the Stankovic Cup - was made in this year's host city of Wuhan (China). India have found themselves in Group A, along with the hosts China, FIBA Asia Championship and FIBA Asia Cup defending champs Iran, Japan, and Indonesia.

India is among 10 teams slated to take part in the FIBA Asia Cup this year, set to be held in Wuhan from July 11-10, 2014.

Here is the complete draw:

• Group A: China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan.
  
• Group B: Chinese Taipei, Jordan, Philippines, Singapore, Uzbekistan.
  

For the FIBA Asia Cup, each zone of FIBA Asia sends one representative, and the hosts (China) and the defending FIBA Asia Champions (Iran) automatically qualify. The remaining two places were allocated to the zones according to performance in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship.

India, led by Head Coach Scott Flemming, will face a tough challenge in the tournament, which will begin in a little over a month from now. Hosts China and Iran are the top two ranked teams in all of Asian basketball, and it is unlikely that India will be able to pose much of a threat to either of these giants. But to qualify for the Quarter-Finals, India only needs to finish in the top four of the five teams, meaning that they only need one victory in the Preliminary Round stage. While Japan has historically been a better team than India, the Indians have shown flashes of strong play (in losing efforts, nevertheless) against the Japanese in recent years, and it may not be outlandish to dream of Team India to spring a surprise in this game. Finally, India should be expected to match almost evenly head-to-head with Indonesia, but this is the most winnable game of the initial round and our ticket into the Quarters.

India's best finish at this tournament was at fifth place back in 2008. Two years ago, in the last iteration of the FIBA Asia Cup in Tokyo, India lost all their games and finished at last place. Even though India has been drawn in a top-heavy group this time, we will be hoping for better results and an appearance in the knockout stage.