Bahrain will take on Thailand in a Group ‘C’ match of the Asian U-16 Basketball Championship starting 4pm (noon Bahrain time) today at GOR Pulogadung Arena in Jakarta, Indonesia.

This will be Bahrain’s second and last match of the group, with all the three teams in Group ‘C’ qualifying for the second round after North Korea withdrew from the championship.

The match is the last test for the Bahraini youngsters before getting into the real test in the second round of the championship. Bahrain lost their opening game in the group against favourites Philippines 98-58 in a one-sided game. 

The national team, coached by American Aaron Mitchell along with his assistant Hamad Ismael, held a training session yesterday to rectify the mistakes the players made against Philippines. Coach Mitchell urged the players to focus more on the rebounds and passing. 

The team seemed confident of performing better in today’s clash against the Thais. A victory will be the right motivation for the team to perform well in the second round of the championship. 

Meanwhile, Philippines defeated Thailand 70-51 in a Group ‘C’ match played yesterday.

Philippines have thus won both the matches they played so far. The winners of the last match of the group, between Bahrain and Thailand today, will take  the second spot in the group standings.

In other matches played yesterday, Chinese Taipei defeated Lebanon 94-86 in a Group ‘B’ match. Japan defeated Malaysia 77-39 in Group ‘A’ while China saw off Iraq 67-56 in Group ‘D’. In another Group ‘A’ match, Hong Kong outplayed Kuwait 71-59 while South Korea defeated India 104-85 in a Group ‘D’ encounter.

Today’s matches (all Bahrain time): 6am – Iraq vs India (Group D); 8am – South Korea vs China (Group D); 10am – Hong Kong vs Japan (Group A); 10am – Lebanon vs Bangladesh (Group B); 12pm – Malaysia vs Kuwait (Group A); 12pm – Thailand vs Bahrain (Group C); 2pm – Indonesia vs Chinese Taipei (Group B).