Bahrainis bow to Egypt in Doha basketball event

TDT | Manama                                                  

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain were outclassed by Egypt 64-83 last night in their opening game of the Qatar International Basketball Championship, currently taking place in Doha. The nationals fell behind 17- 32 at the end of the first quarter against their heavily favoured rivals, who enjoyed leads as big as 26 points the rest of the way.

The Bahrainis are one of six senior men’s national teams competing in the event, which they are using as part of their preparations for the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers getting underway later this month. The other teams include hosts Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Central African Republic.

Mustafa Hussain was the Bahrainis’ top scorer with 25 points last night, but he was the only player to finish in double figures. Amr Sherif El-Gendy led the Egyptians with 18 while Patrick Youssef Gardner had 12. Bahrain will be looking to bounce back tonight when they face Asian powerhouses Jordan at 7.30pm.

The game will wrap up their preliminary round campaign. At the end of a single round-robin, the top seeds from each group play in the final, while the second-seeded teams face off for third. The third seeds battle for fifth overall, with all the final classification contests taking place on Sunday.