Manama: Bahrain suffered their second straight setback yesterday going down fighting to Thailand 65-58 in a Group ‘C’ match of the Asian Under-16 Basketball Championship in Jakarta.

The quarters scores were: 21-7 (Thailand), 19-14 (Bahrain), 14-12 (Thailand), 20-16 (Bahrain). Bahrain’s best scorer was Mohammed Al Majed with  13 points while Thailand’s top scorer was N Banchathon with 28 points.

This was Bahrain’s second and last game in the group following their defeat to the Philippines on Thursday.  However, all three teams – the Philippines, Thailand and Bahrain – made it to the second round following North Korea’s withdrawal from the championship. 

The 12 qualified teams are divided into two groups of six each.

Advance

Group ‘E’ consists of Japan, Malaysia, Kuwait, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia and Lebanon while the Philippines, Thailand, Bahrain, China, South Korea and Iraq are in Group ‘F’.

In the second round, each team will play against the three new teams in its group. 

The top four from each group advance to the quarter-finals. The others will play classification games 9-12. 

In the other matches yesterday, Iraq routed India 90-69 and China outplayed South Korea 91-68, both in Group ‘D’.

Japan crushed Hong Kong 86-51, Kuwait defeated Malaysia 81-66 and Chinese Taipei proved too good for Indonesia 79-56.

Bahrain take on China in the opening match of the second round at 10am Bahrain time today.

In other matches today, Thailand clash with South Korea at 6am, Chinese Taipei play Malaysia at 8am, Kuwait meet Lebanon at 12 noon, Philippines confront Iraq at 12 noon and Japan face Indonesia at 2pm, all Bahrain times.