Seef bow out in Kaohsiung

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain representatives Seef bowed out of the Kaohsiung City Challenger 2026 after suffering back-to-back defeats in the preliminary round yesterday.

The kingdom's 3x3 side lost 22-13 to Belgian outfit Antwerp in their Pool A opener before going down 21-8 against Utrecht of the Netherlands later in the day.

Those results ended their hopes of reaching today's knockout stage and securing one of three qualification spots for the Daging Masters in China on September 26 and 27.

Bogdan Dragovic led the scoring in the opener with nine points, while Naser Alanzor added three and Mahmood Alanzor contributed one.

The Bahrainis remained within striking distance and trailed 8-6 with just over six minutes remaining before their opponents began to pull away.

Dragovic struck successive two-pointers to cut the deficit from 14-7 to 14-11, but Antwerp responded strongly and closed out the contest with 2:53 still on the clock.

Andrej Cuyvers led the Belgian side with nine points, while Dennis Donkor added eight.

A victory against Utrecht was then required to keep Seef's campaign alive, but the Dutch side took control early and raced into a 5-1 advantage.

The Bahrainis reduced the gap to 8-4 midway through the contest, but their opponents steadily stretched their advantage before reaching the 21-point winning mark with 1:02 remaining.

Hamad Faisal led Seef with four points, while Dragovic and Alanzor added two apiece.

Antwerp and Utrecht subsequently advanced to the quarter-finals, joining Barcelona, Shibuya, Baudondvaris Hoptrans, Princeton, Taipei Wanbao and Toronto in the last eight.

The early exit also ruled the Bahraini side out of the prize-money places, with $60,000 on offer to the top five finishers and $20,000 going to the champions.

The Challenger forms part of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour, which returns to Bahrain with the Manama Masters on November 20 and 21.

It will mark the kingdom's fourth successive year hosting an event on the circuit. Manama previously staged Masters tournaments in 2023 and 2024 before welcoming the World Tour Final last year.