BASKETBALL – Bahrain take on Kazakhstan today in their crucial concluding assignment of the preliminary round in 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 are coming off a heavy loss to China in their previous Group C assignment on Saturday, which followed their stunning upset of defending champions the Philippines last Friday.
With only the top two from their pool assured of marching through to Wednesday’s quarter-finals, the Bahrainis must win today to boost their chances of advancing.
Bahrain and Kazakhstan clash at 4am at the 15,000-capacity Aichi International Arena, to be followed by unbeaten Chinese facing their Filipino rivals at 7am. Both times are Bahrain.
Should there be a tie on the Group C table at the end of today’s action, head-to-head results will be the first tie-break factor.
Along with the top two from each of the three groups in the preliminaries, the two best third-placed squads will also qualify for the knockouts.
South Korea secured the top spot in Group A yesterday following a 100-83 victory over runners-up and hosts Japan, while Saudi Arabia and Indonesia are third and fourth, respectively, after the Saudis beat the Indonesians 100-89.
Meanwhile, in Group B, Iran took number one position following an 81-68 win against Jordan, while Chinese Taipei claimed second after beating Qatar 91-69.
The Jordanians wrapped up the round third in their division while Qatar were fourth.
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.
Following the elite eight on Wednesday, the semi-finals will 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.
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