BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN’S youth basketball national team are set to wrap up their overseas training camp today as they gear up for the U16 Asia Cup Gulf Basketball Association (GBA) Qualifiers 2025.
The tournament is set to be hosted by the kingdom from Monday next week to July 12. It will feature all six GCC nations, and it acts as a qualification event for this year’s Fiba Asia U16 Championship, which will be held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, this September.
The Bahrainis have been training in Sarajevo, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, over the past couple of weeks under the supervision of Tunisian head coach Racem Marzougui.
The nationals worked on their physical and technical readiness as they gear up for a high level of competition in the GBA event.
During their camp, they had played a number of tune-up games against local youth teams.
Marzougui and the rest of his coaching staff expressed their great satisfaction with the discipline and commitment of the players throughout the camp. They also praised the tremendous support the youth national team received from the BBA and the continuous follow-up of BBA president Alaa Mudara.
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 day. 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 in Saudi Arabia. They did not earn a berth in the Fiba Asia U16 Championship with their ranking, 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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