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BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN were last night crowned back-to-back champions in the 23rd Arab Youth Men’s Basketball Championship 2026, which came to a close in Sfax, Tunisia.
The kingdom’s youth men’s national team secured their title in the under-18 tournament after defeating Egypt 85-73 in the gold medal game, played at Sfax’s Raed Al Bawaji Hall.
The Bahrainis used a sensational second-half performance, where they imposed their dominance and turned a narrow 38-35 advantage at the break to leads as big as 16 points, to come away triumphant.
Twin towers Somto Patrick Onoduenyi and Hassan Abdulkadir came up big for the nationals in the contest.
The star big men combined for 48 points and 44 rebounds – with Onoduenyi scoring a game-high 26 and Abdulkadir adding 22 markers, and with each taking down 22 boards apiece.
Onoduenyi was later named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and was presented with a special trophy during the awarding ceremonies.
Joining the top two on the podium were hosts Tunisia, who captured the bronze medals after beating Morocco 73-56 in the game for third place.
Algeria ranked fifth overall on the final standings while Libya were in sixth and last place.
Bahrain’s repeat success as title winners earned them their second championship overall in the Arab Basketball Confederation competition, which was organised this year in cooperation with the Federation Tunisienne de Basketball.
The Bahrainis had also won the silver medals once previously in the 2018 edition. Last night’s result marked Bahrain’s fifth win in six outings in Sfax, and it avenged their only loss over the week, which came against the Egyptians in both teams’ concluding assignment of the preliminary round.
The Bahrainis also handed Egypt their sole defeat of the championship yesterday.
Bahrain’s participation in Sfax was part of their preparations for the Gulf Basketball Association (GBA) U18 Championship 2026, set to be held in Doha, Qatar from July 17 to 22.
At the Qatari capital, they will also be vying for a berth in the Fiba U18 Asia Cup 2026, with the top three nations climbing the podium earning their places in the biennial continental event, to be played in Ahmedabad, India from Aug 13 to 23.
In last night’s final, Bahrain held a slim 18-17 edge at the end of the opening period which they turned to 38-35 at the interval. The nationals, coached by veteran Bahraini tactician Salman Ramadhan, then began to pull away in the third quarter, when two free-throws by Onoduenyi gave them their first double-digit lead at 49-38.
They never looked back from there and took a commanding 58-48 cushion into the final frame.
There, Bahrain powered to the finish and a jump hook by Abdulkadir made it 81-65 with less than a minute remaining.
He then supplied the assist on an alley-oop for an Onoduenyi reverse dunk in the closing seconds, right before the final buzzer.
Mujtaba Mahmood Rayyan added 15 points for the Bahrainis while Mahdi Habib Baqer chipped in with 11.
Asaad Kaidar paced Egypt with 23 points and 18 rebounds in defeat, while Rami Magdi scored 15.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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