Clouds hover over China's road to defend at Asian basketball championship

Chinese men's basketball team face an uphill battle to chase a record 16th Asian title at the 27th Asian Championships to be played in the Mall of Asia Arena from August 1 to 11.

Top three finishers in the 15-team tournament will earn berths to the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain.

China, South Korea and Iran, who have combined to win 19 out of the 26 editions previously, are in Group C with underdogs Malaysia.

Defending champions China will start their campaign with a match against arch-rivals South Korea, who finished third in Wuhan 2011. They have met 16 times at the Asian Championships, with China losing only twice.

Yi Jianlian is still doubtful to start for China in the group stage as the former NBA player strained his thigh muscle in training just before the tournament.

As the results in the preliminary round also count in the second round, China may meet hosts the Philippines before the final if they don't rank the first place in the group.

Iran are still among the hot favourites for the title. Winning the 35th William Jones Cup shows Hamed Haddadi, Samad Bahrami and Mahdi Kamrani are in sublime form while Hamed Afagh and Oshin Sahakian also have shown glimpses of their brilliance.

The Philippines are in group A with Chinese Taipei, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. This is the first time that the Philippines host the FIBA Asia Tournament since 1973, when it was known as the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Championship.

Things have changed a lot since the Philippines won the championship in 1973, as China was the dominant force in Asian basketball over the past three decades, winning 15 titles so far.

But the hosts, who won the second most titles just after China, had shown signs of renaissance as they finished fourth in 2011.

Jordan surely are not the same team that went all the way to the gold medal match in Wuhan two years ago. Key players like Osama Daghles, Rasheim Wright and Zaid Abbas all missed the tournament and naturalized player Jimmy Baxter will be Jordan's last hope.

Chinese Taipei, too, will bring naturalized player Quincy Davis to counter Philippines' Marcus Douthit. Lin Chih-Chieh showed terrific form in leading Chinese Taipei to a second place finish in front of home crowds at the 35th William Jones Cup.

Japan, Qatar and Hong Kong, China in Group B are the most lucky teams after Lebanon was suspended by FIBA, which ensures all of them places in the second round.

In the open contest of Group D, Kazakhstan, who had a very creditable fourth in Tokushima, Japan in 2007, are the most accomplished.