BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN were last night crowned champions of the Fiba U16 Asia Cup Gulf Basketball Association (GBA) Qualifiers 2025, currently being hosted by the kingdom.
The youth national team secured the title after winning their fourth straight game – an 83-50 rout of the UAE – at the Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA) Arena in Um Al Hassam.
With the result, the Bahrainis wrapped up their tournament campaign with an undefeated record and also punched their tickets to this year’s Fiba U16 Asia Cup, to be held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, this September.
There is still one day to go in the competition. Today’s concluding programme will see Kuwait play Saudi Arabia at 5pm, followed by Oman taking on the Emiratis at 7.30pm.
Both fixtures will be held at the BBA Arena and all are welcome to attend, with entrance totally free of charge.
Saudi were 88-41 winners against the Omanis in yesterday’s other game.
In Bahrain’s win last night, they got off to a strong start, holding the UAE to single digits in the opening period to take a 24-9 advantage into the second. The visitors fought back in the second, however, and reduced the home team’s advantage to 28-37 at the break – it was the first time in these qualifiers that Bahrain lost a quarter.
But they bounced back after the interval and powered to a 58-45 lead after three, before closing the game with a dominant fourth, where they outscored their opponents 25-5. The biggest gap of the evening was 35 late in the final canto on an Ali Khalil Habib lay-up that made it 83-48 – the Bahrainis’ last basket of the contest.
Mohamed Adel Abdulla scored 14 points to lead the nationals’ balanced attack, while Ali Husain Mohamed chipped in with 12 off the bench. Hussain Fuad Ghuloom added 11, while Somto Patrick Onoduenyi and Hussain Ahmed Madan scored 10 apiece.
Hassan Oshobuge Abdulkadir also came up big for Bahrain in just 10 minutes of work, scoring seven points and grabbing 13 rebounds while blocking three shots.
Hussain Hashil led the Emiratis with 18, while Tariq Alhawary scored 10.
The Bahrainis have qualified for the Fiba Asia U16 Championship for the sixth time in its history.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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