Sandwiched in the transition phase of Serbian and American coaches, Indian cagers missed the Asia Cup bus for the first time in 26 years.
Despite giving an improved performance in the later stage of the qualifiers, Indian men’s team will not participate in the biannual basketball tournament where they have been playing on a regular basis since 1999.
In their qualifier game against Qatar at Doha on Monday, India started positively but eventually lost 81-61 to the hosts. Qatar and Group E table toppers qualified.
In the first window of the qualifiers held last year in Feb, Indian team played under Serbian coach Veselin Matic, where they lost both their games.
In November last year, India played under American coach Scott Flemming where the team won a game against Kazakhstan and lost against Qatar during the second window of the qualifiers.
In the third window, India lost their games against Iran and Qatar, and failed to qualify for the Asia Cup.