Bahrain lose Gulf basketball title bid

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain were last night booted out of title contention in the Gulf Basketball Association qualifiers for the FIBA Asia U16 Championship. The nationals bowed to their counterparts from Saudi Arabia 61-75 in their semi-final contest in Jeddah.

With the result, the Bahrainis also lost out on the chance for playing in the continental tournament, scheduled to take place in Doha in September. The nationals trailed 30-32 at the half, but then conceded an 11-30 third quarter to fall behind 41-62.

They never recovered and fell behind by as many as 26 the rest of the way. Ali Altoq scored 13 points and Daniel Moosa had 10 in the loss for Bahrain. Amjad Abdulwahab Al Ateek had 33 points while Mohammed Khafaji added 19 for the Saudis.

The Bahrainis will now play for the bronze medals in the game for third place today. They will face Kuwait, who lost to Qatar 72-75 in yesterday’s other semi-final. The Saudis and Qataris will face off for the gold medals this evening. They both have also secured their berths in the FIBA Asia U16 Championship