BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN’S 3x3 boys’ basketball team added a silver medal last night to the kingdom’s already impressive haul in the third Asian Youth Games.
The Bahrainis narrowly missed out on gold following a thrilling 17-19 loss to China in their tournament final, played at the Bahrain Basketball Association Arena in Um Al Hassam Sports Complex.
Shengbin Yao buried the winning two-pointer as the clock ticked down to 10 seconds. The nationals had battled back from five points behind with just over a minute-and-a-half to play to tie the game at 17-apiece, but Yao swished in the decisive basket from long range to break the deadlock and Bahrain’s hearts.
Yousif Yaqoob Meshael was then called for stepping out of bounds with 5.3 seconds to go on the ensuing possession, and the Chinese held on for the stunning win.
Yao finished as their top scorer in the boys’ final with 11 points. Ziqi Xu added 10, Yuxuan Zuo had three, and Yuzheng Tong scored one point. Hassan Abdulkadir had a valiant performance for Bahrain, scoring 11 of their total output, while Somto Onoduenyi and Sergej Scekic added three apiece.
Finishing as boys’ bronze-medallists were Qatar, who defeated Mongolia 18-13 in the game for third place last night.
Bahrain Olympic Committe (BOC) vice-president and Olympic Council of Asia vice-president for the third Asian Youth Games Shaikh Isa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa was on hand to present the boys’ top three their medals.
In the girls’ 3x3 basketball tournament yesterday, Chinese Taipei were the gold-medallists following a hard-earned 15-14 win in overtime against Iran. Their final had ended deadlocked at 13-apiece as regular time expired, sending the contest into the extra session, which was decided by the first team to score two points.
The girls’ champions were composed of Li-er Chiao, Pei-hsuan Wu, Xin Chen, and Ai-tung Hsieh.
Securing their bronze medals were China, who outclassed Thailand 21-12 in their classification game.
Earlier in the day yesterday, Bahrain defeated Saudi Arabia 20-11 in the quarter-finals, using a balanced attack to thwart their Gulf rivals. Meshael was then on fire from beyond the arc in their 21-10 victory over Qatar in the semi-finals. The lightning-quick guard buried four two-pointers in their win to finish with 11 points while helping the Bahrainis punch their tickets to the gold medal contest.
Bahrain’s 3x3 medal was their third silver of this year’s Asian Youth Games and seventh overall, adding to three gold medals and one bronze.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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