2007 FIBA Asia Championship

The 2007 FIBA Asia Championship for Men is the qualifying tournament for FIBA Asia at the men's basketball tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics at Beijing. The tournament was held in Tokushima, Japan from July 28 to August 5, 2007.

Participating teams qualified through the previous edition of this tournament and others through regional qualifiers. Since China is assured of an automatic berth at the 2008 Olympics as the host nation, the champions will automatically qualify while the two best teams excluding China qualifies for FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2008.

Iran won their first championship after beating 2-time silver medalists Lebanon, 74–69. Korea upended Kazakhstan to clinch third place, and the last Asian berth in the FIBA pre-Olympic tournament, together with Lebanon.

Qualification

According to the FIBA Asia rules, each zone had two places, and the hosts (Japan) and holders (China) were automatically qualified. The other four places are allocated to the zones according to performance in the 2005 FIBA Asia Championship.

FIBA Asia Championship

The FIBA Asia Championship for Men (formerly Asian Basketball Confederation Championship) is an international basketball tournament which takes place every two years between men's national teams of Asia. This is the Asian qualifying tournament for the FIBA Basketball World Cup and the Olympic basketball tournament. The 2013 and 2015 will be the last Asian Championship to serve as qualifiers to the FIBA Basketball World Cup and the Olympic Games.

The 2017 FIBA Asia Championship will be the last Asian Championship to be held as it will be re-formatted in 2021.

History

Beginnings

The Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Championship was inaugurated in Manila in 1960. The championship was held to find Asia's best team and for qualification to the World Championship and the Olympics. On the next four tournaments, the Philippines won 3 with the Japanese beating the Filipinos on 1965. Korea, Japan and the Philippines split the next 3 championships until China debuted on 1975 at Bangkok with the championship, where they've dominated ever since.

FIBA

The International Basketball Federation, more commonly known as FIBA, FIBA World, or FIBA International (/ˈfiːbə/ FEE-bə), from its French name Fédération Internationale de Basket-ball, is an association of national organizations which governs international competition in basketball. Originally known as the Fédération Internationale de Basket-ball Amateur (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word Amateur from its official name but retained the acronym; the "BA" now represents the first two letters of basketball.

FIBA defines the international rules of basketball, specifies the equipment and facilities required, regulates the transfer of athletes across countries, and controls the appointment of international referees. A total of 215 national federations are now members, organized since 1989 into five zones or "commissions": Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.

The FIBA Basketball World Cup is a world tournament for men's national teams held every four years. Teams compete for the Naismith Trophy, named in honor of basketball's creator James Naismith. The tournament structure is similar but not identical to that of the FIFA World Cup in football; these tournaments occurred in the same year from 1970 through 2014, but starting in 2019, the Basketball World Cup will move to the year following the FIFA World Cup. A parallel event for women's teams, the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, is also held quadrennially; from 1986 through 2014, it was held in the same year as the men's event but in a different country. The women's tournament will continue to be held in the same year as the FIFA World Cup.

2015 FIBA Asia Championship

The 2015 FIBA Asia Championship for Men was the 28th continental basketball championship in Asia. The tournament was organised by FIBA Asia.

At the FIBA Asia Congress held in Doha, Qatar, the Central Board awarded the hosting rights to China. On 4 December 2014, the Chinese Basketball Association acquired approval from FIBA Asia to hold the men's championship at Changsha, Hunan, with the women's championship to be held at Wuhan, Hubei.

As the winner of the tournament, China qualified for the basketball tournament on the 2016 Summer Olympics, while the Philippines, Iran, and Japan will participate at the 2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men, as stated by FIBA and the IOC in qualification quota.

Qualification

According to the FIBA Asia rules, the host nation China and 2014 FIBA Asia Cup champions Iran automatically qualified. East Asia, West Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Persian Gulf each had two berths while Central Asia and South Asia each had one slot allotted. The other four places are allocated to the zones according to performance in the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup. Therefore, with Chinese Taipei, Philippines, Jordan, and Japan finishing in the top four in that tournament other than Iran and China which were both direct qualifiers, East Asia gained another two berths while the Southeast Asia and West Asia gained an additional slot each.