New Zealand has been drawn in Group C at the Asia Cup tournament to be hosted in Beirut from August 8 to 20, and included in their initial opposition is a mouthwatering clash with the host country Lebanon (world number 43). The draw took place tonight (NZT) at Le RoyalHotel Dbayeh in Beirut.
The Tall Blacks will also take on Kazakhstan (56) and South Korea (30) - with the Koreans also in New Zealands pool for FIBA World Cup qualifying, they are in fact the first opponents for the New Zealanders in the first FIBA window on November 23rd in New Zealand (venue to be confirmed), adding further spice to the encounter in Beirut.
With the top three teams in each pool progressing to a second phase of 12 teams before the tournament enters a knock out stage from the quarter finals on, Henare is excited about playing the host country and experiencing all the challenges that will bring.
"It is good to know it is all finalized and locked in now. We have some exciting opportunities, playing the host nation is going to be an awesome experience for our group, they are mad about their basketball over there and will be a great challenge for us and makes it all that much more real now.
"With three teams going through we back ourselves to make it that far but we want to take as many positive results as we can to ensure we are in the best possible position to qualify for the knock out stage of the tournament."
New Zealand will come into camp in late July to begin preparation for the tournament, the first such participation of the Tall Blacks (and Australia) since Oceanias inclusion in Asia.
- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Basketball New Zealand
