BASKETBALL – Bahrain were handed a disappointing early exit yesterday from the Fiba U18 Asia Cup 2026 in Ahmedabad, India.
The kingdom’s youth men’s basketball national team went down fighting 99-109 against their counterparts from Chinese Taipei in their play-off contest for the quarter-finals at Veer Savarkar Indoor Stadium.
The game was close from the opening tip, featuring 10 ties and 13 lead changes, but the Bahrainis were in control for a majority of the affair.
A late surge from their opponents, however, stunned them in the closing minutes, and they could not recover.
Bahrain began the fourth quarter up 79-75, and a Hassan Abdulkadir three-point play later gave them a 91-84 cushion with just over six-and-a-half minutes remaining.
But it was downhill from there for the nationals, as they gave up nine unanswered points, capped by a Jia-Han Huang basket from beyond the arc, as Chinese Taipei took the lead for good at 93-91.
After an Abdulkadir free-throw, he fouled out with three minutes still remaining, and Chinese Taipei took advantage.
They strung together another six straight points before Bahrain could reply, and a split from the charity stripe by Ting-Kuan Liu later gave them a 106-95 advantage with less than a minute left.
Bahrain’s court general Mahdi Habib Baqer tried to inspire one last fight, scoring four points to bring his team back within single digits at 99-106, but they could get no closer as Chinese Taipei did enough to hold on for the big win.
Abdulkadir scored 36 points and grabbed 18 rebounds before his late-game exit, which proved crucial for the kingdom’s squad.
Frontcourt mate Somto Patrick Onoduenyi chipped in with 22 points and 17 boards while playing the full 40 minutes, while Baqer added 16 and eight assists, Mujtaba Mahmood Rayyan chipped in with 13, and Ali Husain Mohamed had 10.
Liu finished with a team-high 33 points, six assists, and six steals for Chinese Taipei, while Carter Matthew Coleman scored 23 and Yu-Sheng Xing had 22 as he shot a red-hot six-for-eight from the three-point line. Huang contributed 15 while Shao-En Huang finished with 12 in their win.
Bahrain led 24-23 at the end of the first quarter yesterday and enjoyed their biggest advantage of 11, 40-29, after an Abdulkadir basket with six minutes to go in the second quarter, although Chinese Taipei took a slim 53-52 edge at the break. Bahrain recovered in the third but could not keep their lead late in the final frame.
Following their victory, Chinese Taipei set up a clash with South Korea in today’s elite eight.
In other play-off results yesterday, the Philippines ousted Syria 72-63, Japan beat Qatar 80-75, and Iran eliminated hosts India 83-66.
In the rest of today’s quarter-final pairings, the Philippines take on China, Japan face New Zealand, and Iran lock horns with Australia.
The semis follow tomorrow and then the gold and bronze medal games will be played on Sunday.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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