BASKETBALL – Bahrain were handed a humbling 59-105 loss to China yesterday in their second Group C assignment of the men’s five-on-five basketball tournament at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
The kingdom’s senior men’s national team never got going in the one-sided affair and the powerhouse Chinese cruised to the crushing win.
JaKarr Sampson had 17 points for the Bahrainis while Elijah Thomas added 10 as their only two players in double figures. Sanning Liao paced China with 23, while Yuezhou Li scored 18.
The result followed Bahrain’s upset victory over defending champions the Philippines in their opening assignment on Friday.
The nationals will now be looking to bounce back in their remaining fixture in this stage as they hope to make it through to the quarter-finals.
It will be against Kazakhstan tomorrow, scheduled for a 4am tip-off, Bahrain time.
Bahrain must win to boost their chances of advancing to the elite eight.
Only the top two teams from each of the three preliminary round pools, plus the two best third-placers, will advance to the quarters, which are scheduled for Wednesday.
In attendance during Bahrain’s clash yesterday was Bahrain Olympic Committee vice-president Shaikh Isa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa.
Basketball is the first of a number of sports that are kick-starting their respective programmes ahead of the official opening of this year’s Asian Games on Saturday.
In other games yesterday at the 15,000-capacity Aichi International Arena, Iran edged past Chinese Taipei 72-69 and Jordan beat Qatar 76-65 in Group B, while the Philippines outclassed Kazakhstan 109-78, also in Group C.
Today, Iran face Jordan and Chinese Taipei take on Qatar in Group B play, followed by Saudi Arabia going up against Indonesia and hosts Japan locking horns with South Korea in Group A.
Bahrain have a rest day.
Following Wednesday’s quarter-finals, the semis will then take place on Friday, setting the stage for the gold and bronze medal games on Sunday next week – the day after the Asian Games official opening ceremony.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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