Jordan plays Thailand in Asian Games basketball opener

AMMAN — The national basketball team plays Thailand on Tuesday at the 19thAsian Games, which opened September 23 and will run until October 8 in Hangzhou, China.

Playing in Group C, Jordan will meet Bahrain on September 28 before facing the Philippines on September 30 in Round 1.  Jordan’s best finish at the Asian Games was 4th in 1986 and 2006.

Jordan just played their third World Cup after previously reaching the premier event in 2010, 2019 with the squad being the only Jordanian team to reach a World Cup in a team sport alongside the junior men’s team in 1995. 

Among the Kingdom’s regional achievement, Jordan has reached the FIBA Asia Cup (previously FIBA Asia Championship) 16 times, with the best showing runner-up in 2011, third in 2009 and fourth in 2022 after they reached the semis for the second time.  For the FIBA Asia Cup 2025, Jordan was drawn to play Group D qualifiers alongside Iraq, Palestine and Saudi Arabia.  

HRH Prince Faisali Bin Al Hussein attended the opening ceremony of the Games as Jordan joined 12,000 athletes from 45 countries at the Games which run until October 8. The Kingdom’s  delegation includes 79 athletes competing in  15 sports: archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, fencing, golf, gymnastics, ju-jitsu, karate, shooting, taekwondo, weightlifting, triathlon and e-games.

Athletes to watch are Jordan’s 2018 Asian Games gold medalist taekwondo’s Juliana Al Sadiq, who won silver at the 2023 World Championship, boxing’s Mohammad Abu Jajeh who won bronze at the 2023 IBA World Boxing Championships as well asTokyo Olympics silver medalist taekwondo’s Saleh Sharabati, now ranked 3rd in the world and close to advancing to the Paris Olympics 2024.