Indian men’s basketball team will be playing their first game of the 27th FIBA Asia Championship against Bahrain on Thursday in Manila, the Philippines.
The team finished their training-cum-preparation trip in Turkey from July 20-29, during which they won all their matches with a 30-plus point margin.
The 27th FIBA Asia Championship will be played from Aug 1-11. The tournament will begin with 15 teams divided into four groups (Group A, B, C and D) in the preliminary round. India have been placed in Group D along with Thailand, Bahrain and Kazakhstan.
After their encounter against Bahrain, India will play Thailand on Friday.
In their last encounter in the preliminary round India clash against Kazakhstan on Saturday.
Three teams from each group will qualify for the second round of the tournament. The top three teams from the tournament will qualify for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
India have made 22 appearances so far in the Asian Championship with their first appearance being in 1965 and have been placed fourth twice -- in 1965 and 1975.
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