BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN take on Iran today in 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 will be hitting the hardwood at the 15,000-capacity Aichi International Arena at 7am, Bahrain time.
It will be the second of four fixtures in the elite eight. The others see Jordan taking on South Korea at 4am, China playing Saudi Arabia at 10am, and Chinese Taipei clashing with Japan at 1.20pm. All times are Bahrain.
The nationals secured their quarters berth after finishing as runners-up in Group C of the preliminary round, where they won two of their three assignments. The Iranians topped Group B, also with two wins from three outings.
Today’s clashes will set the stage for the semi-finals, scheduled to take place on Friday. The gold and bronze medal games will then be held on Sunday next week – the day after this year’s Asian Games’ official opening ceremony on Saturday.
Basketball is the first of a number of sports that have kick started their respective programmes ahead of the official opening.
Bahrain are competing in the quarter-final stage of men’s five-on-five basketball for the first time. The nationals also took part in the Asiad’s 1974, 1978, 1982, 2006, and 2022 editions, with their best finishes being 10th in 1982 and 2022.
Greek-Slovenian head coach Slobodan Subotic has a 12-player squad in Aichi-Nagoya. The players include Mustafa Hussain, Ahmed Salman, Ahmed Alderazi, Ahmed Bindayneh, Ali Hussain, Ali Jaber, Mohammed Juma’a, Mohammed Buallay, JaKarr Sampson, Elijah Thomas, Uros Ilic, and Austin Ajukwa.
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