Bahrain Youth Yet to Break Through

TDT | Manama

Email : hussainm@newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s under-18 men’s basketball team lost 57-112 to Slovenia yesterday in their third preliminary-round game at the 31st Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Germany.

The Bahrainis started competitively but struggled to keep pace. The first quarter ended 33-10 in Slovenia’s favour, and by halftime the deficit had grown to 59-30. Despite battling through the second half, the Kingdom’s representatives couldn’t close the gap, finishing 55 points behind.

Somto Patrick Onoduenyi once again led Bahrain with 20 points, adding 10 rebounds and 4 assists. Hassan Abdulkadir contributed 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Ali Mohamed added 6 points. The team found scoring difficult from long range, making just 3-of-19 threepoint attempts. Slovenia had five players in double figures, led by Rok Kozel with 21 points and 9 rebounds, and Gal Čop with 20 points and 3 steals.

Bahrain had previously lost to Germany (59-116) and Sweden (70-101), leaving them without a win after three matches. Coached by Greek Gregorios Vovoras, Bahrain rests today before facing fellow-Asian side Japan tomorrow at 2:15pm in their fourth Group A match.

They will then conclude against Turkiye on Thursday at the same time. The team is using the tournament as preparation for the upcoming FIBA U18 Asia Cup qualifiers in Qatar.