BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN made history yesterday after barging into the quarter-finals 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 secured their berth in the last eight for the first time ever after five previous appearances in Asiad basketball with a resounding 101-78 victory over Kazakhstan in their concluding Group C game of the competition’s preliminary round, played at the 15,000-capacity Aichi International Arena.
In attendance during the contest were Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) vice-president Shaikh Isa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa and other members of the kingdom’s delegation in Japan, including BOC executive director of operations and Bahrain’s chef de mission Ahmed Abdulghaffar. They met with the nationals in the locker room after the game to congratulate them on the result.
The win was the second in three tries for the Bahrainis and it earned them the runner-up spot in their division, pushing them into the quarters. China secured first place after eliminating defending champions the Philippines with a 105-61 triumph to complete the opening phase with an undefeated record.
Also making it through to the elite eight were South Korea and Japan from Group A and Iran and Chinese Taipei from Group B.
Saudi Arabia from Group A and Jordan from Group B marched through as well as the two best third-placers from all three pools.
In the quarter-finals, which are to be played tomorrow after a rest day today, Bahrain are set to face off with Iran at 7am in the day’s second game.
Action gets underway with Jordan taking on South Korea at 4am, and later China play Saudi at 10am. Chinese Taipei clash with Japan at 1.20pm to complete the quarters schedule. All times are Bahrain.
The semi-finals are then scheduled to take place on Friday, setting the stage for the gold and bronze medal games on Sunday next week – the day after this year’s Asian Games’ official opening ceremony.
Bahrain headed into their clash against Kazakhstan yesterday facing a must-win in order to boost their chances of advancing to the knockouts. They stepped up to the challenge and thus are continuing their historic run in the tournament.
After a see-saw start to the first quarter, back-to-back three-pointers by court general Ahmed Salman gave the nationals the lead for good at 15-12. Backcourt mate Mustafa Hussain then fired in another basket from beyond the arc to extend their lead and cap a game-changing 9-0 run. That helped the Bahrainis take a commanding 28-15 advantage into the second, where they recovered from a brief Kazakh surge that brought them to within five, 31-36, to head into the break up 55-39.
Bahrain kept their foot on the gas in the last two periods, building a lead of 24 points, 76-52, with an Elijah Thomas triple. They took a 77-56 cushion into the final frame, where they built the biggest gap of the contest of 27 points, 93-66, on a JaKarr Sampson basket with only three-and-a-half minutes remaining.
Sampson led Bahrain’s scorers with 23 points while grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out six assists.
Hussain chipped in with 20 points and eight assists, while Thomas contributed 16 points and Salman had 14.
The nationals shot an efficient 12-for-31 from three-point range, led by Salman’s four makes and Hussain’s three.
Daniil Severgin had 16 points and Anton Bykov 14 to pace Kazakhstan, who finished last in Group C with three losses.
Basketball is the first of a number of sports that have kick started their respective programmes ahead of the official opening of this year’s Asian Games on Saturday.
The Bahrainis were also part of the five-on-five men’s basketball tournaments in the Asiad’s 1974, 1978, 1982, 2006, and 2022 editions, with their best finishes being 10th in 1982 and 2022.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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