BASKETBALL – Bahrain’s youth men’s basketball national team take on their counterparts from Chinese Taipei today in a play-off for the quarter-finals of the Fiba U18 Asia Cup 2026, currently being played in Ahmedabad, India.
The game is scheduled for an 11am tip-off, Bahrain time, and it is one of four qualification contests for the elite eight, to be held at Veer Savarkar Indoor Stadium.
In the other fixtures, the Philippines take on Syria at 8am, Japan face Qatar at 2pm, and Iran play hosts India at 5pm. All times are Bahrain.
The Bahrainis will be looking to claim a victory today for the right to face South Korea in tomorrow’s quarters.
The South Koreans were undefeated Group D winners from the competition’s preliminary stage.
The victor of the Philippines-Syria match-up will next face Group C top-placers China, the winners of Japan-Qatar will take on Group B victors New Zealand, and the winners from Iran-India will battle Group A winners Australia in the round of eight.
The Chinese, Kiwis, and Australians are also unbeaten so far in the tournament.
The Bahrainis claimed their place in this play-off stage after finishing as runners-up in Group B with two wins from their three outings in the preliminaries.
Bahrain’s victories came against Lebanon and Syria, while they suffered their only loss to New Zealand.
The nationals, coached by Salman Ramadhan, will be relying heavily on their twin towers Somto Patrick Onoduenyi and Hassan Abdulkadir, who have been sensational so far in Ahmedabad.
Also set to play big roles are court general Mahdi Habib Baqer and versatile forward Mujtaba Mahmood Rayyan, while they will be looking to be ably assisted by their teammates including Ali Hussain Mohammed, Hussain Fuad Sharaf, Mohammed Mahmood Farhan, Ali Ayman, Mohammed Adel Abdulla, Ali Khalil Redha, Yousif Yaqoob Meshaei, and Divine Tochukwu Abochi.
Following tomorrow’s quarter-finals, the semis will take place on Saturday, setting the stage for the gold and bronze medal games on Sunday.
Classification contests will also be played on both days.
This year’s Fiba U18 Asia Cup also acts as a qualifier for the Fiba U19 Basketball World Cup 2027, with the top four booking their berths to the worlds.
Bahrain have never qualified for the youth worlds, while their best-ever finish in the continental showcase was seventh twice – first in 1982 in Manila, the Philippines and then again in 2018 in Nonthaburi, Thailand.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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