Asia Cup second-round fixtures set for Bahrain

Bahrain will begin the second round of the FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Pre-Qualifiers against Sri Lanka on November 26, before facing Kazakhstan the following day and Palestine on November 29.

Slobodan Subotic's men enter Group E in a strong position after topping Group A in Dubai with four wins from four.

The nationals opened with a 106-62 victory over Oman before beating the UAE 83-80, Nepal 105-71 and Kuwait 95-67.

The UAE and Kuwait advanced alongside Bahrain from Group A, while Palestine, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka progressed from Group B to complete the six-team Group E.

Under the competition format, all six teams carry their first-round records into the next stage.

That leaves Bahrain and Palestine level at the top on eight points apiece, followed by the UAE and Kazakhstan on seven, with Kuwait and Sri Lanka on six.

Bahrain will not play fellow Group A qualifiers UAE and Kuwait again, with the results of their first-round meetings carrying over. Their three second-round games will instead be against the teams that advanced from Group B.

The top four teams in Group E will advance to the FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Qualifiers, joining the 16 nations that competed at the 2025 continental finals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Before attention turns to November, Bahrain's immediate focus will be on the Asian Games, which take place in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4.

The kingdom's cagers are set to begin preparations for the continental multi-sport event, where they have been drawn in Group C alongside defending champions the Philippines, China and Kazakhstan.