Bahrain bow to Qatar in Asian U16 basketball

TDT | Manama           

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s youth national basketball team suffered a 61-85 loss to hosts Qatar last night in their opening Group A game of the FIBA U16 Asian Championship, taking place in Doha. The nationals started the game strong and enjoyed a 22- 15 lead after the first quarter.

It was downhill from there, however. Their lead vanished by the half as the Qataris went ahead by one, 37-36, and then the home side stayed in control until the final buzzer. The Bahrainis trailed by as many as 25 points in the contest.

Ali Fardan led the nationals with 15 points in the game while Hamad Alamari contributed 14 points and eight rebounds. Hasan Ghareeb chipped in with nine and Hasan Nayem scored seven in the loss. Qatar's Moustapha Ndao finished with a game-high 20.

Bahrain’s tournament campaign doesn’t get any easier in their remaining two fixtures of the preliminary round. They are back in action today against India at 1.30pm, Bahrain time, before going up against continental powerhouses Australia tomorrow.

There are 13 teams in all in the competition’s first stage. They have been divided into four groups. Group B comprises Iran, Lebanon and Indonesia; Group C features the Philippines, Japan and Kuwait; while Group D includes South Korea, New Zealand and Kazakhstan.

After a single round-robin, the top teams from each of the four groups advance directly to the quarter-finals, while the second and thirdranked squads will compete in the play-offs for another chance to make it into the last eight.