The First Round of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Pre-Qualifiers has been one to remember for Mongolia basketball fans.

For the first time in a long time, Mongolia were back to competing in a FIBA Asia competition and they were hosting the games. The fans filled in the seats at the beautiful UG Arena and roared along as they rooted for their heroes whether it was T.Sanchir  or B.Bilgunn. They would chant “MVP” as they stars lineup for free-throws and would raise their volume even louder in an attempt to drown out any plays of the opposing teams.

It’s been an impressive experience for Mongolia basketball and one that they take with pride.

With moments like that spread throughout the entire competition from November 10-14, it was clear that Mongolia were ready to be get back into the FIBA Asia competition setting and continue to develop basketball in the country.

Mongolian men’s team won the FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup 2017 and the women’s team proudly represented the country at Tokyo recent Olympics

The performance from the youth women’s team in September or the performance of the senior men’s teams here at home were all very positive signs pointing to the future. Whether it is long term or short term, Mongolia are committed to building and growing basketball here in the country to be recognized region-wide.

The short term objective is continue to perform and advance from Pre-Qualifiers to Qualifiers, be among the 24 teams competing for 16 slots available for FIBA Asia Cup 2025. The long term objective is establishing youth development network interconnected with professional league and further with the national team.

All of this activity and planning towards the future from MBA is based on the true belief of how big basketball is and can be in Mongolia.