The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has made the call to move the Asia Cup to July 2022 because of the surge of Covid-19 cases in Jakarta, Indonesia.

FIBA made this decision known through a memo signed by FIBA Executive Director-Asia Hagop Khajirian.

“This evaluation has taken into consideration multiple aspects such as current travel restrictions, the well-being of the participants, fan access and experience, and the objective of ensuring the highest quality of events,” read the memo.

“Having concluded this process and after coordination with Regional Office Oceania, the following calendar update of FIBA Asia was confirmed,” continued the memo. “The FIBA Asia Cup 2021 will be played as planned in Jakarta, Indonesia, but is rescheduled to July 2022 right after the window of the FIBA World Cup Asia Qualifiers.”

A total of 13 teams have already qualified for the FIBA Asia Cup. This list includes the Philippines, which swept all of its games in the qualifying round. Aside from the Gilas Pilipinas, also earning tickets to the FIBA Asia Cup were Lebanon, Jordan, Indonesia, Bahrain, Iran, Kazakhstan, Syria, South Korea, China, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. (JNP)