Why Is Indonesia Not Featuring in the FIBA World Cup Despite Being One of the Hosts?

The 2023 FIBA World Cup is well underway and has already treated the fans with many impressive performances. Notably, the game between the Dominican Republic and the Philipines went to the wire. The fans rallied behind their team but the Philipines could not secure the win in the close game. Another host, Japan, faced a similar fate at the hands of Germany in front of their fans. However, the game wasn’t close. Interestingly, the third host, Indonesia, is not featuring in the World Cup. Do you know why?

The tournament already has multiple close games under its belt keeping the fans at the edge of their seats. On the other hand, there have been some shocking results as well.

Indonesia’s failed effort to qualify for the FIBA World Cup

In major International soccer tournaments like the FIFA World Cup, the hosts get an automatic selection into the tournament. However, that is not the case with the FIBA World Cup. Each team has to go through the qualifying process to book a berth at the event. Unfortunately, Indonesia was not able to qualify for the tournament. So even though they are one of the hosts of the event, the Indonesian basketball team will not feature.

Indonesia was just one win away from securing a spot at the World Cup. All they had to do was make it to the Quarter Finals of the FIBA Asia Cup held last year. However, it is easier said than done. As per Sports Inquirer, the team lost 108-58 to China in the playoffs of the tournament and failed to reach the Quarter Finals. This came as a huge blow to their aspirations to qualify for the World Cup.

However, head coach Milos Pejic was not ready to be sad about the defeat and not qualifying for the World Cup. “Indonesia basketball is at the beginning of the level where we want to be,” said Pejic. “We want to be much higher. But that starting position is not bad.”

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The Serbian added the defeat does not take away the impressive progress made by the team in the last few months.

FIBA Shocker: France vs. Canada

The fans experienced the first shocker of the 2023 FIBA World Cup on the very first day of the tournament. The game was between Canada and France.

Despite being ranked 5th, France was defeated by the Canadian national team. However, the shocking thing about the game was not the loss but the manner in which the French lost.

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Canada dominated the game thoroughly and won the game 95-65. The 30-point deficit came as a major shock to many fans around the world.