BASKETBALL – ARAB and Gulf champions Bahrain are set to face their toughest test yet when they hit the hardwood amongst the continent’s best in the Fiba U16 Asia Cup 2025 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, tipping off on Sunday next week.
The kingdom’s youth basketball national team are fresh from winning successive titles in the 22nd U16 Arab Basketball Championship for Youth in Cairo, Egypt, just last week, and in the Fiba U16 Asia Cup Gulf Basketball Association (GBA) Qualifiers 2025, held at home in July.
Their successful GBA campaign earned them their spot in the Mongolian capital, where the nationals are now set to take on two of Asia’s basketball powerhouses in Australia and Lebanon. All three teams are in Group A of the competition’s preliminary round alongside India.
This year’s Fiba U16 Asia Cup features 16 teams in all. Group B is composed of New Zealand, the Philippines, Chinese Taipei, and Indonesia; Group C features China, South Korea, Malaysia, and hosts Mongolia; and Group D comprises Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, and Saudi Arabia, who are the other GBA side to have qualified.
The Bahrainis, coached by Tunisian Racem Marzougui, open their campaign against the Australians, who are the defending champions, on opening day at 6.30am. They then take on the Lebanese the following day at 9am before playing their concluding group fixture against India on September 2, also at 9am. All times are Bahrain.
After a single round-robin, the four group winners will move on directly to the quarter-finals, while the teams ranked second and third in each pool will play in a play-off round on September 4. The four victors from that elimination phase will complete the cast in the elite eight, which will take place on September 5.
The semi-finals are then scheduled for September 6, to be followed by the gold and bronze medal games on September 7.
Classification contests will also be held on the tournament’s last two days.
Bahrain are expected to feature much of the same squad that competed in both the Arab and GBA events the past couple of months. They are set to be spearheaded by twin towers Somto Patrick Onoduenyi, who was named the Arab championship’s Most Valuable Player, and his frontcourt mate Hassan Abdulkadir.
The youth national team’s other players who helped lift Bahrain to the title in Cairo were Mohammed Ghuloom, Mohammed Farhan, Hussain Madan, Ali Al Haddad, Youssef Meshaai, Hassan Rowaian, Hassan Fouad, Ali Khalil, Devian Wesdom, and skipper Ali Hussain.
The Fiba U16 Asia Cup 2025 also acts as a qualifier for the Fiba U17 Basketball World Cup 2026, which will be held in Türkiye. The top four teams from Ulaanbaatar will earn their berths in Istanbul.
This year’s Fiba U16 Asia Cup marks its eighth edition. Bahrain are playing for the sixth time and for the third straight tournament. Their best finish was an impressive eighth in the 2013 event in Tehran, while they were 15th in the 2023 competition in Doha, Qatar.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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