FIBA has yet to make a decision regarding penalties on on the countries that are not competing in the third window of the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers, noting that it is handling the matter in a case-to-case basis.
Hagop Khajirian, the Fiba Asia executive director, told Radyo5's Power and Play with Noli Eala on Saturday that the international governing body for basketball hasn't really decided yet on what to do with the nations which begged off from playing the remainder of their games.
"We consider it case-by-case and if there's any valid reason, we'll consider the case," he said.
Four national teams are not joining the third window, led by 2017 gold medalist Australia and New Zealand.
The Boomers (2-1) and the Tall Blacks (2-1) will not head to Clark for their remaining Group C games, and so is Malaysia (0-1) for Group B.
In the Amman bubble, also-ran Sri Lanka (0-5) is also absent for Group F, leaving its remaining game against Jordan unplayed.
Khajirian stressed that Fiba considers the limitations brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Australia, for example, the government forbids any visitors from entering the country and leaving the country as well. It's just for special cases, and after their return, they take 14 days or longer [quarantine period]," he said.
However, Khajirian also noted that Fiba has the right to hand out penalties for these non-participating nations.
"If their presented arguments are not convincing, we will penalize them. Sometimes we go further than that by handing suspensions," he said. "We'll consider all cases. If were convinced by the reasons given by them for not playing, we'll make the proper decisions."
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