Bahrain advance in basketball World Cup qualifiers

TDT | Manama                                              

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com  

Bahrain scraped through last night to the second round of Asian qualifying for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. The nationals advanced past the opening stage after overcoming a poor start to claim a 62-51 upset victory over heavily favoured Kazakhstan yesterday in their final Group D game of the first phase, held at Republican Velodrome Saryarka in Astana.

That, coupled with a 91-56 win for Iran over Syria in Aleppo in last night’s other divisional fixture, put the Bahrainis through as the third-ranked team on their group table. The Kazakhs and Iranians also marched on to the next round as the top two squads, while the Syrians were eliminated from further World Cup qualification.

Bahrain overcame the odds in booking their berth in the second phase. They had earlier lost their first four qualifiers, including twice to Iran and then once each at home to Syria and Kazakhstan. But they kept their qualifying hopes alive with a stunning away win over Syria on Thursday last week, before another surprise victory last night.

Only the top three teams from each of the four first-round groups go through. Bahrain are thus one of 12 nations in the next phase. Naturalised big man Wayne Chism top scored for the Bahrainis with 16 points. He also had 12 rebounds and was able to manage foul trouble, having already been called for three personals at the half.

Mohammed Ameer added 14 off the bench for Bahrain while court general Ahmed Hassan Alderazi chipped in with 13. Mustafa Hussain scored nine, brother Ali Hussain contributed six while Ali Shukrallah had three and Maitham Jameel one to round off the national team’s scorers.

The Bahrainis had a poor start in the contest, needing nearly six minutes in the opening quarter to score their first point, having already fallen behind 0-13. They trailed 9-24 in at the end of the first, but in the second found their groove and outscored the hosts 21-5 with just over two minutes to go before the half.

Ali Hussain then buried a corner three-pointer before the shot clock expired and Ameer had back-to-back baskets in the paint, putting Bahrain ahead 37-29 at the interval. In a low-scoring third, Bahrain did well to add to their lead and a Chism dunk made it 44-34.

The six-foot, nineinch centre then made a corner triple to help lift his team to a 49-39 advantage with one quarter remaining. In the final canto, Kazakhstan tried to mount a late comeback and after an Alderazi unsportsmanlike foul, the home team got back to within 47-53.

But Mustafa Hussain was able to score on a driving lay-up and then buried a back-breaking three-pointer to give Bahrain a 58-47 advantage. That virtually iced the win for the visitors to secure their tickets to the next round.