Bahrain youth gear up for Gulf basketball

TDT | Manama              

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s youth national basketball team is gearing up to compete in the Gulf Basketball Association (GBA) qualifiers for the FIBA Asia U16 Championship. The continental tournament is scheduled to be held in Doha from September 17 to 24. The qualification competition will take place from July 25 to July 30 in Jeddah, with Bahrain being among the four teams taking part.

The others are Kuwait, Qatar, and host Saudi Arabia. All four teams will play a single round-robin to determine the rankings for the semi-finals. The top seeds will play the fourth, while the second and third battle it out.

The winners advance to the gold medal game and, at the same time, book their berths for this year’s FIBA Asia U16 Championship. Bahrain opens their campaign on the first day against Qatar, after which they take on the Saudis the next day.

They then play Kuwait on July 27, after which a rest day will be held. The semi-finals will then be on July 29 and the final the following evening. As part of the youth national team’s preparations, they have conducted an overseas training camp in Turkey. This year’s continental tournament is the eighth time it has been held.

Bahrain has qualified four times in the past, including the 2009, 2013, 2015, and 2022 editions. Their best finish was eighth in 2013, while they took 13th overall last year amongst 13 competing teams.