Bahrain finalise squad for Asian U18 challenge
Bahrain’s youth men’s national basketball team have finalised their 12-player squad for the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2026, with the continental championship set to take place in Ahmedabad, India, from August 13 to 23.
The Bahrainis head into the tournament with plenty of confidence after a highly successful summer at regional level. They are the reigning Arab and Gulf champions, having won the 23rd Arab Youth Men’s Basketball Championship in Tunisia in July before following it up with an unbeaten run to the Gulf Basketball Association (GBA) U18 Championship title in Doha.
Head coach Salman Ramadhan has selected Hussein Fuad, Ali Ayman, Mahdi Habib, Mujtaba Rayan, Mohammed Adel, Ali Ferdowsi, Mohammed Farhan, Yousif Yaqoob, Somto Patrick Onoduenyi, Hassan Abdulkadir, Divine Aboche and Ali Khalil for the Asian challenge.
Bahrain face a significant step up in quality in Ahmedabad, having been drawn in Group B alongside Lebanon, New Zealand and Syria.
They open their campaign against Lebanon on Thursday, August 13, at 2:30pm Bahrain time. They then face New Zealand on Saturday, August 15, at 11am, before completing the group stage against Syria on Monday, August 17, at 2:30pm.
The 16 participating teams have been divided into four groups of four. Group A features defending champions Australia, Chinese Taipei, the Philippines and Thailand, while China, Iran, Qatar and Sri Lanka make up Group C. Group D consists of South Korea, Japan, hosts India and Kazakhstan.
The group winners will advance directly to the quarter-finals, while the teams finishing second and third will contest a play-in round on August 20 for the remaining places in the last eight.
The quarter-finals will be held on August 21, followed by the semi-finals on August 22. The tournament will conclude on August 23 with the bronze and gold medal games, along with the final classification matches.
The stakes are high, with the four teams reaching the semi-finals securing qualification for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2027, which will be held in Pardubice, Czechia, from June 26 to July 4 next year.
After securing the Arab and Gulf titles this summer, Bahrain will now face their toughest test yet as they look to carry their regional form onto the Asian stage.
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