COLOMBO, September 19, 2018: Sri Lanka moved a step closer towards making a first appearance at the Asian continental championship in nearly a decade after narrowly edging its way into the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers.
Sri Lanka finished as the fourth best team in the Western region pre-qualifiers held in Manama, Bahrain last week to scrape into the next stage of qualifying for the premier tournament and earn a shot at making history.
Top points-scoring guard Praneeth Udumalagala led Sri Lanka to a tense 63-60 win over South Asian rivals Bangladesh which was enough to earn a berth in the next stage of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021. It is the first time since 2009 that Sri Lanka has advanced so far in this competition and more significantly it was the first time they had won outside South Asia sub-zone.
Sri Lanka lost its other three group games to the taller and physical outfits from Saudi Arabia, Palestine and hosts Bahrain but by virtue of finishing fourth in the Western Group had done enough to secure a berth in the next stage of qualifying in November, 2019.
A decade ago, when Sri Lanka last played in the latter stages of this competition, they did it the easy way having gained automatic qualification.
But now a tough qualifying process which lasts four years has to be endured. Sri Lanka backed by clothing partner JAT Holdings, have passed the first two hurdles – winning the South Asian pre-qualifiers in Dhaka in July with an undefeated record, and now finishing fourth in the second round of qualifying.
The region’s leading 16 teams – from their rankings at the last FIBA Asia Cup in 2017 –have already gained automatic qualification. They include top teams like Asian Games gold medalists China, runners-up Iran, bronze medalists South Korea, the Philippines and Australia.
The 25-year-old Udumalagala averaged 17.3 points to finish the Manama tournament as the second-highest points scorer behind Palestinian Saleem Sakakini(28.3) who also topped the rebound aggregate with an impressive average of 16.7.
The Eastern region qualifying tournament to be held later this year will feature seven teams – among them Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore -with the top four moving into the next stage.
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