BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN’S youth basketball national team were dominant last night in their opening game of the U16 Asia Cup Gulf Basketball Association (GBA) Qualifiers 2025, which is being hosted by the kingdom.
The nationals more than doubled the scoring output of their opponents from Oman in a 96-44 drubbing at the Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA) Arena in Umm Al Hassam.
The hosts raced out to a big lead early and enjoyed gaps as big as 57 points en route to the resounding triumph.
The result put the Bahrainis in first place on the tournament standings after only the first day of action. They ranked ahead of Kuwait, who were 63-44 winners over the UAE in yesterday’s other fixture.
Attending Bahrain’s win last night were Bahrain Olympic Committee vice-president Shaikh Isa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa and Bahrain Basketball Association president Alaa Mudara, among other officials.
Five of the six GCC countries are taking part in the GBA event, which acts as a qualifier for this year’s Fiba Asia U16 Championship, to be held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, this September. Saudi Arabia are also in the fray but were not in action yesterday, while Qatar were a late withdrawal from competing.
The qualifiers are being played in league format. Action continues today with another two fixtures. Saudi open their campaign against the UAE at 5pm, to be followed by the Bahrainis going up against the Kuwaitis at 7.30pm.
All fans are welcome to attend. Entrance throughout the championship is free.
Bahrain took a commanding 31-11 lead at the end of the first quarter yesterday and never looked back. They extended their advantage to 60-23 at the half, and marginally took the foot off the gas in the third, when they scored just 19 points but held Oman to single digits with eight. The nationals headed into the fourth up 79-31, and took their biggest lead of the night following a lay-up by Ali Khalil Habib that made it 95-38 with three minutes to go.
Somto Patrick Onoduenyi led the home side with 15 points as all of the national team’s players made it onto the score sheet. Mohamed Adel Abdulla added 12, Hassan Oshobuge Abdulkadir had 11 to go with 18 rebounds, and Hussain Ahmed Madan came off the bench and contributed 10 points.
None of Bahrain’s roster played more than 20 minutes in the contest.
The rest of Racem Marzougui’s squad in the tournament includes skipper Ali Husian Mohamed, Yousif Yaqoob Meshaei, Yousif Ali Alsamaheeji, Ali Alhaddad, Mohamed Mahmood Farhan, Hasan Ruyan, Hussain Fuad Ghuloom, and Habib.
Almulham Al Abaidani paced Oman with 17 points in the loss, while captain Adaam Sulaiman Al Hinai added 12.
Two games a day are being held over the competition’s five game days, which continue until Saturday. Thursday will be a rest day.
Following their clash with Kuwait today, the Bahrainis face Saudi tomorrow. On Friday, they play the UAE in their concluding outing.
Bahrain are hoping to improve on their third-place finish in the previous edition of the GBA’s U16 event, which was held in 2023 in Jeddah in Saudi. 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.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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