Bahrain will play Thailand today in their last, must-win preliminary round Group C game of the basketball competition in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
The kingdom’s team are currently last in the four-team table with two points, behind Thailand (who also have two points but are third because of points difference), the Philippines and Jordan, who both have four points each.
Having lost their first two games by big margins – the first to the Philippines, 89-61, last Tuesday and the second to Jordan, 84-60, on Thursday – a win over Thailand will propel Bahrain into third position in the table meaning that they would head into a playoff with a second-placed team from another group with the winner heading into the quarter-finals.
According to the 16-team tournament’s format, the winners of each four-team group qualify directly for the quarter-finals while the teams placing second and third head into playoffs to determine the other four quarter-finalists.
Thailand, however, are not likely to be easy opponents even though they – like Bahrain – also lost their first two games: the first to Jordan, 97-63, and the second to the Philippines, 87-72.
Bahrain will be counting on their American-Bahraini star Devon Dwayne Chism to rediscover his form. The 6’9” power forward seemed largely off-colour in the first two games and a return to his best would help Bahrain’s cause immensely.
However, Maitham Jameel, who plays as a guard, has been very impressive as has Ali Husain, who, along with his brother, Mustafa, played an instrumental role in Bahrain’s five-game clean sweep in the 2024 Fiba Men’s Pre-Qualifying Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Asia in Syria when they defeated Saudi Arabia, India, Kazakhstan, Indonesia and the hosts on their way to joining 23 other teams in four Olympic qualifying tournaments in July next year.
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