Bengaluru, Sunday, 4^th September 2022: For the second straight time, India is all set to host the FIBA U18 Women’s Asian Championship in Bengaluru.

The Championship will be held from 5^th to 11^th September at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium.

The participating teams are split into two Divisions A & B, with 8 teams each.

Division A

India, Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and New Zealand

Division B

Thailand, Samoa, Maldives, Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Jordan and Mongolia

Hosts India face herculean task

India is in the elite Division A by virtue of finishing on top of Division B in the previous 2018 edition. Grouped with heavyweights Australia, Korea and New Zealand, India will face a herculean task to win any of its games.

While some individual players may look to prove that they can compete against the best in Asia & Oceania, for all intents and purposes, India’s goal will be to avoid relegation back to Division B.

The bottom placed team in Division A will be replaced by the winner of Division B.

In other words, India will already be psychologically preparing for a 7^th-8^th position game against Indonesia, which is the weakest team in the opposite group that also features China, Chinese Taipei and Japan.

China is the defending champion, while Japan finished runners up, with Oceanic powerhouse Australia rounding out the top three.

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India’s campaign tips off against Australia on 5^th September at 6pm IST. All games are being streamed live on the FIBA YouTube Channel.