ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship): The schedule of games for the Preliminary Round competition at the 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship to be played in Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) from Aug 17-26 has been announced.

Nine-time gold medalists and defending champions China will open their campaign against Hong Kong with Korea, the silver medalists of the last edition at the 21st FIBA Asia Championship at Sana’A (Yemen) two years ago lining up against fellow East Asian team and archrivals Japan on the opening day of the competition.

Click here for complete Schedule of the Preliminary Round

Groupings for the Preliminary Round

Group A: China, Hong Kong, Lebanon, India.

Group B: Korea, Japan, Singapore, Syria.

Group C: Ch. Taipei, Indonesia, Bahrain, Mongolia.

Group D: Iran, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia.

The top three teams from each group will advance to the second round of the championship.

Click here for the System of Competition at the 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship.

About 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship

The 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship is the qualifying event for the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship to be played in Czech Republic from 27 June-7 July 2013. The top three teams from the 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship will represent FIBA Asia at Czech Republic.

This will be the first time that Mongolia will host any FIBA Asia event. Mongolia will also make their debut appearance in this FIBA Asia event.

The Official website of the 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship is online at http://ulaanbaatar2012.fibaasia.net.

About FIBA Asia

FIBA Asia (http://fibaasia.net) is the governing body for basketball in Asia. With 44 National Federations affiliated FIBA Asia is one of the largest among the five FIBA zones – FIBA Europe, FIBA Americas, FIBA Africa and FIBA Oceania are the others. The members of the FIBA Asia family bring a diversity of cultures and languages making FIBA Asia the most varied, vivid and vibrant basketball community in the world. As the governing body, FIBA Asia is responsible for controlling and developing the sport of basketball in Asia.