Bahrain’s Asiad basketball team named

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s final 12-man team has been named to compete in the men’s basketball tournament at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

The Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) announced yesterday the senior men’s national team roster that will be taking to the hardwood at the multi-sport event.

The squad includes a majority of the players who flew the Kingdom’s flag and claimed an historic, fivegame sweep of the FIBA Asia pre-qualifiers for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.

They booked their tickets to the Kingdom’s first-ever participation in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, which will also be held next year.

The 11 holdovers include Maitham Jameel, Mustafa Hussain, Ali Hussain, Ali Jaber, Ali Shukrallah, Wayne Chism, Alwethaq Ali, Muzamil Ameer, Sayed Mohammed Hameed, Ali Aqeel and Mohammed Buallay. The lone addition to the roster is Mohammed Ameer.

The Bahrainis are coached by Spaniard Ricard Casas.

Bahrain are in a tough Group C of the preliminary round.

They will be going up against continental powerhouses the Philippines, Jordan and Thailand.

The nationals tip off their campaign against the Philippines on 26 September at 8.30am, Bahrain time.

They then face off with Jordan on 28 September at 6am, Bahrain time; and then complete group play against Thailand on 30 September at 12.30pm, Bahrain time.

There are 16 nations in all competing in men’s basketball at Hangzhou. Group A features Iran, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Group B consists of defending Asian Games champions China, Lebanon, Chinese-Taipei and Mongolia.

Group D comprises Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Qatar. After a single round-robin, the top teams in each group will qualify directly for the quarter-finals on 4 October.

Meanwhile, the second and third-ranked sides will play each other in a play-off round on 2 October for the right to determine the four other quarter-finalists.

Second in Group A will play third in Group B, second in Group B will play third in Group A, second in Group C will play third in Group D, and second in Group D will play third in Group C.

The semi-finals and fifth-toeighth ranking games are then scheduled for 5 October; and then the gold and bronze medal games, plus the final classification contests, will be held on 7 October.

Bahrain did not participate in men’s basketball in the previous three editions of the Asian Games.

Their last appearance on the hardwood was at the 2006 Asiad in Doha, where they were ranked 12th overall on the final classification amongst 20 participating nations.

China defeated Iran in the final of the previous Asiad in 2018 in Jakarta.

South Korea were the bronze-medallists.

Thirteen teams were in the fray that year.