Bahrain bow to Kuwait in Gulf basketball

TDT | Manama                                                         

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain bowed to Kuwait 47-64 last night in the FIBA Asia U18 Championship-Gulf Basketball Association (GBA) Qualifier, currently being held in Dubai.

The nationals used a 13-2 run to end the first half and turn an early deficit to a 31-28 lead at the break. But in the final two periods, the nationals lost their momentum.

They were outscored in the third period 8-25 and never recovered from there, falling behind 39-53 with one quarter to play and facing deficits as big as 20 points. It was the second straight loss for Bahrain in the competition.

They had opened with resounding wins over the UAE and Oman, but have now lost their last two fixtures against Qatar and Kuwait. Abbas Albasri was Bahrain’s top scorer with 10 points. He was their only player in double figures.

Omran Abdulla Akbar added eight and Mohammed Ghazi Qambar and Abbas Fadhel Khalaf each had six points. Bahrain play their final preliminary round contest against Saudi Arabia this evening at 7.30pm, Bahrain time.

The regional tournament is also being played to 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.