2015 FIBA Asia Championship

Qualification

According to the FIBA Asia rules, the host nation China and 2014 FIBA Asia Cup champions Iran automatically qualified. East Asia, West Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Persian Gulf each had two berths while Central Asia and South Asia each had one slot allotted. The other four places are allocated to the zones according to performance in the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup. Therefore, with Chinese Taipei, Philippines, Jordan, and Japan finishing in the top four in that tournament other than Iran and China which were both direct qualifiers, East Asia gained another two berths while the Southeast Asia and West Asia gained an additional slot each.

Venues

Changsha has been chosen by the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) as the host of the men's championship. Changsha Social Work College's gymnasium was chosen as the primary stadium, while Central South University of Forestry and Technology's gymnasium was the auxiliary stadium.

Draw

The draw was held at Changsha on 27 June 2015. Two teams that were unknown at the date of the draw, the South Asia qualifier and the last remaining team from East Asia were known a short time after.

The top four teams from 2013 were seeded; all other teams except the host team were drawn. By the time that there were three teams in each group, China chose their group, then the remaining three unseeded teams are drawn.

Included are the teams' FIBA World Rankings on the day the draw was made.

* Later determined as India (ranked 61st) and Hong Kong (ranked 69th), respectively.

Squads

Each team has a roster of twelve players. A team may opt to allocate a roster spot to a naturalized player.

Tournament format

Preliminary round

All times are local (UTC+8).

Awards

Rescheduling of Semifinals

There was suspicion and outraged when the organizers decided to move the schedule of the semifinals game between Philippines and Japan from its original schedule of 9:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Many fans believe that this move was a way for the Chinese to procure undue advantage come the gold medal match.

Finals Pregame

A few hours before the championship match, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas President Manuel V. Pangilinan accused the host country of pulling off shenanigans. He ranted on his Twitter account that electric bus that was to bring the Philippine squad to the game venue was delayed because it failed to charge, which will give them less time to warm up. He also claimed that not a single ticket was allocated to the SBP by the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), which left members of the Philippine squad coaching staff as well as the group of SBP officials without tickets hours prior to the game. SBP officials claimed it is standard practice for local organizers to allocate tickets for teams playing in the championship. He also cited that the Chinese players stayed at a different hotel from the players from the other nations, which violates the FIBA rules. It was also reported that when the Philippine squad finally arrived at the arena, the goal's net where they were shooting was suddenly removed for repair, which gave them even less time to warm up after the delay from the electric bus incident.

Officiating

The officiating of the referees were also held in question by fans and various teams playing against China, especially the games with Jordan, South Korea, Iran and the Philippines.

Behavioural issues

There was wide criticism of the rude behavior of the Chinese fans towards visiting teams, in which fans were shouting threats, doing the dirty finger and throwing bottles and paper at the opposing team benches. There were incidents in which foreign fans in the venue were heckled and insulted by Chinese fans while the Chinese Police just stood by. One particular moment is when Calvin Abueva irritated Chinese supporters after he accidentally bumped Guo Ailun with his shoulder while returning to the bench following his fifth and final personal foul. It was also reported that a Filipino cameraman got involved, too, in a verbal exchange started by a Chinese cameraman. Filipino veteran sportswriter Quinito Henson added that a Chinese photographer had to be restrained from scuffling with a Filipino lensman for shielding Abueva from crowd abuse.

Referees

The following referees were selected for the tournament.