Bahrain juniors set for Gulf basketball battles

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s line-up for the FIBA Asia U18 Championship – Gulf Basketball Association (GBA) Qualifier has been named. Twelve of the Kingdom’s top junior talents are set to take to the hardwood in the regional competition, which is set to be held in Dubai from Friday to August 6.

The tournament will determine the GBA teams that will compete in the FIBA U18 Asian Championship 2022, which will take place in Tehran from August 21 to 28.

Only the top two teams from the GBA will book their tickets to the continental showcase. All six GCC nations will be participating in the event, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and hosts UAE.

Bahrain’s line-up includes Nasser Al Anzoor, Imran Najaf, Mohammed Ghazi, Ismail Kamal, Abdulrazzaq Saif, Mahdi Ali Khalifa, Ali Khaled and Elias Younes from Manama; Abbas Al Basri from Nuwaidrat; Ali Jawad and Abbas Fadhel from Sitra; and Hassan Gharib from Al Ahli.

They are to be guided by head coach Mindaugas Janiska from Lithuania, who is a former professional player.

He is also currently an assistant coach on the senior men’s national team, while also taking on the duties at the helm of the under-18 squad. The team is scheduled to depart today for the Emirates to take part in the competition.

The travelling delegation is headed by Bahrain Basketball Association national teams committee vice-chairman Ali Al Khaja. The nationals begin their tournament campaign on Friday against the UAE in a game scheduled to tip off at 5.15pm, Bahrain time.

They then play the following day against Oman at 3pm, before going up against Qatar on Sunday, also at 3pm, Bahrain time. Following a day off on Monday, the Bahrainis then take on Kuwait on Tuesday at 7.30pm, Bahrain time, before playing their final preliminary round contest on Wednesday next week at 7.30pm, Bahrain time.

Following the single round-robin, the top four teams will advance to the semi-finals on Friday next week, where the top seeds will face the fourthranked squad while the second seeds will play the third. The bronze and gold medal games will then take place the evening after.