Bahrain head into FIBA Asia Cup as ‘underdogs’

TDT | Manama                                                 

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain head into the FIBA Asia Cup 2022 as the tournament’s underdogs. The nationals are currently the only participating team outside of the top 100 in the World Ranking and top 20 in the Asia Ranking, according to FIBA.

But ever since the start of the Asia Cup Qualifiers, Bahrain have been one of the fastest rising teams in the rankings. They went up seven spots from 113th to 106th, which was also three spots in Asia from 24th to 21st.

Two of the Bahrainis’ opponents in the Asia Cup’s preliminary round are ranked amongst the top 30 in the world and best five in the continent, namely China who are 29th in the world ranking and fourth in Asia, and South Korea who are 30th in the world and fifth in Asia.

The other team in their group are Chinese-Taipei, who are ranked 69th in the world and 11th in Asia. Bahrain are also one of the teams that didn’t play in the previous edition of the Asia Cup in 2017, but will be competing in this year’s edition. Coached by Lithuanian tactician Mindaugas Lukosius, the national team roster includes Ahmed Hassan Alderazi, Maitham Jameel, Ahmed Bin Danea, Ali Hussain, Mustafa Hussain, Ali Shukrallah, Mohammed Ameer, Ali Jaber, Nader Shaker, naturalized big man Wayne Chism, Hussain Shaker and Ahmed Najaf.

There are 16 countries in all participating in this year’s competition, which was postponed from its original slot last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The other groups in the preliminary round feature Saudi Arabia, Jordan, defending champions Australia and hosts Indonesia in Group A; Iran, Japan, Kazakhstsan and Syria in Group C; and India, Lebanon, the Philippines and New Zealand in Group D. This year’s event marks the 30th edition of the continent’s leading basketball tournament.

Bahrain begin their campaign tomorrow against Chinese-Taipei. They then face off with China on Thursday, before taking on South Korea on Saturday next week. After a single round-robin, the top team from each of the four groups advance directly to the quarter-finals, while the second and third-ranked squads move on to the play-off round, where they will play a single game for a berth in the last eight.