Indian Women's Basketball Team Misses FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup Qualification

Indian Women's Team Falls Short in FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup Qualifiers

Singapore, April 2: The Indian women's basketball team was unable to secure a spot in the main draw of the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup 2026 held in Singapore, following a significant loss to Malaysia in the qualifying rounds on Thursday.

Ranked 88th globally, India lost 16-13 to the 44th-ranked Malaysian team in their first match of Pool B, as reported by Olympics.com.

Although India initially led 6-4, they could not sustain their advantage, allowing Malaysia to come back and clinch the victory.

Pushpa Senthil Kumar emerged as India's top scorer with six points, while Dharshini Thirunavukkarasu contributed notably with two three-pointers.

In their second match, India rebounded impressively, defeating Turkmenistan 21-4. Sreekala Rani and Pushpa both scored six points, with Dharshini adding five and Sanjana Ramesh contributing four, highlighting a strong team effort.

However, Malaysia secured the only main draw spot from the group after defeating Turkmenistan 21-9 later that day, eliminating India from contention. Only the leading team from each qualifying pool advances to the main draw.

This marks the second consecutive time the Indian women's team has not progressed past the qualifiers. In the last edition, they managed a win against Guam but were eliminated after losses to Hong Kong China and Chinese Taipei.

In contrast, the Indian men's team had a successful run, advancing to the main draw after winning against Bahrain, Kazakhstan, and Hong Kong China in Pool D of the qualifiers. They are scheduled to face Qatar and New Zealand in their main draw matches on Friday.

The top two teams from each group in the main draw will qualify for the quarter-finals. The men's team had reached the last eight in the previous edition, marking their best performance in over ten years.