ASIAN BEACH GAMES – BAHRAIN suffered a disappointing start to their men’s 3x3 basketball campaign yesterday at the sixth Asian Beach Games in Sanya, China.
The kingdom’s senior men’s squad lost both their contests in Pool C of the tournament’s preliminary round – first 11-21 to Gulf rivals Qatar and then 12-20 against India.
Those results ended their hopes of booking a direct berth in the quarter-finals as group winners, but they are still in contention for a place in the play-off round. They must win their final Pool C clash tomorrow against Kazakhstan, scheduled for an 8.30am tip-off, Bahrain time.
The Kazakhs also lost their two assignments yesterday – going down to their Indian counterparts 10-19 and then losing to the Qataris 15-22.
The team that wins tomorrow’s head-to-head will take third place in their division, which would pit them against the second seeds from Pool B in a play-off for a berth in the last eight. Pool B features Mongolia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka.
Bahrain are one of 16 nations taking to the half court in the men’s 3x3 basketball event in Sanya. Pool A is composed of hosts China, the Philippines, Iran, and Macau, while Pool D includes Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, and Hong Kong.
Following a single round-robin, the top team from each group move straight to the quarters, while the second and third-placed squads will battle for the four other spots.
Bahrain are competing in this year’s Asian Beach Games with the quartet of Austin Ajukwa, Bogdan Dragovic, Nasser Al Mosawi, and Mohammed Kowayed, who was a last-minute replacement for Milos Supica, who suffered an injury during the Bahrainis’ training camp in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.
In the Bahrainis’ defeat against Qatar, Ajukwa scored six points as their top scorer, while Dragovic added three. Al Mosawi chipped in with two points while Kowayed went scoreless.
Mohammed Abbasher and Dejan Janjic had seven points apiece to pace the Qataris, while Abdulrahman Saad finished with six.
In their loss against India, Dragovic was this time Bahrain’s leading man with six points. Ajukwa and Al Mosawi had three each, while Kowayed again went without a basket.
Harsh Dagar had eight points for the Indians while Kushal Singh scored six and Pranav Prince had four.
Bahrain are competing in four of the 14 sports that are being held as part of the sixth Asian Beach Games. The kingdom’s athletes are also taking part in beach handball, open water swimming under the sport of aquatics, and beach wrestling.
The other sports in Sanya are beach soccer, beach kabaddi, beach athletics, dragon boat, jiu-jitsu, sailing, speed sports climbing, teqball, aquathlon triathlon, and beach volleyball.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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