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BASKETBALL – THE Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA) unveiled yesterday the official logo of the U16 Asia Cup Gulf Basketball Association (GBA) Qualifiers 2025.
The tournament is set to feature all six GCC nations and it will be held in the kingdom from July 7 to 12. It is the qualification event for this year’s Fiba Asia U16 Championship, which is set to be held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, this September.
The logo features a combination of Gulf symbolism and sporting identity. It boasts a basketball sculpture with the kingdom’s most prominent landmarks, while Bahrain’s red and white flag is prominently displayed at the centre of the logo.
The launch of the logo comes as part of the supreme organising committee’s preparations for the tournament.
Bahrain’s national team have begun training locally ahead of the competition and are scheduled to conduct an overseas training camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina. BBA president Alaa Mudara also met the young Bahrainis during a practice session to follow up on their preparations.
The participating six-nation field in the tournament has been divided into two groups. Qatar, Kuwait, and the UAE are in Group A, while Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain are in Group B.
Games will be held at the BBA Arena in Um Al Hassam, and play will begin with a preliminary round, to be followed by the knockouts.
On opening night, Qatar take on Kuwait at 5pm, to be followed at 7.30pm by Bahrain facing Oman. The following day on July 8, the UAE and Qatar face off at 5pm, while Oman and Saudi battle at 7.30pm. The tournament’s opening phase then wraps up on July 9, with Kuwait taking on the UAE at 5pm, to be followed by Saudi and Bahrain clashing at 7.30pm.
Following a rest day on July 10, the semi-finals will be held the following. The Group A winners will face the Group B runners-up, while the Group A runners-up will take on the Group B winners. The gold and bronze medal games will then be held on the championship’s final day on July 12.
Bahrain finished third in the previous edition of the Gulf U16 event, which was held in 2023 in Jeddah. They did not earn a berth in the Fiba Asia U16 Championship with their standings, but eventually received a qualifying ticket to participate after receiving a letter of invitation from Fiba Asia.
The nationals went on to mark their fifth appearance in the 16-nation continental tournament, which was held in Doha, although they bowed out in the group stage after losing all three of their games.
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