Jordanian Basketball Out Of Asian Games

(MENAFN- Jordan Times) AMMAN - Jordan's quest for an advanced position at the 20th Asian Games basketball competition ended Wednesday when they lost to South Korea in their quarterfinal match.

The 114-80 defeat, after a first half score of 57-27, did not take fans or experts by surprise as Jordan's performance was anything but consistent in the Round 1 where they only beat Qatar 76-65, lost to Taiwan 83-80 and to Iran 81-68. With only one win, the team reached the quarters by virtue of being one of two best third-placed teams as well as results of other teams.

Wednesday's exit from the Games, where Jordan was silver medal winner in 2023, as the first game to win a medal in a team sport, highlighted the need of an objective assessment of the game.

Throughout summer, late preparations and an incoherent lineup led to inconsistent performance putting current new coach Spaniard Luis Guil Torres, who took charge of the team last month, in a difficult position. Overall chances and readiness were clear ahead of the Asian Games when Jordan finished 6th at the 45th William Jones Cup in Taiwan - a tournament they had won twice before.

Earlier, in FIBA qualifiers, the squad clearly lacked a cohesive performance and relied on individual efforts. Hoping to salvage the situation at the Asian Games, newcomer Perron Buford was enlisted alongside former pro Dar Tucker as Jalen Harris was off the roaster with Seif Saleh. However, early in the competition, Jordan lost the efforts of veteran Ahmad Duweiri who suffered a serious injury requiring surgery as well as Abdallah Olajuwon. With the new naturalized player not providing enough firepower, many observers noted Jordan lost out on main issues: key players are now out of the lineup with injury ahead of World Cup qualifiers; other veterans with declining performance were again relied on instead of enlisting a younger lineup for competitive experience as the coach tries to best prepare the team for the upcoming two Window 5 World Cup qualifiers against New Zealand on November 27 and Australia on November 30.

Jordan's hopes of moving to their third consecutive and fourth overall World Cup have now been made tougher as they need to win at least two or three matches of their remaining four matches to secure qualification. In Window 4, Round 2 Asian qualifiers for the 2027 FIBA World Cup, Jordan dropped to fourth after losing 82-81 to the Philippines in OT, and 126-93 to Australia. Window 6 is set on February 25 and 28, 2027 against the Philippines and New Zealand.

Apart from qualifying to the World Cup three times in 2010, 2019 and 2023, Jordan qualified to the U19 Basketball World Cup in 1995 and 2025. At the last 31st FIBA Asia Cup 2025, Jordan's squad failed to keep up the nation's impressive record finishing 11th among 16 nations after previously reaching the medals podium twice. So far, the squad has played at the FIBA Asia Cup 17th times, with their best position runner-up in 2011, 3rd in 2009 and 4th in 2022.

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