Bahrain send India packing from U-16 Asia Cup

NAGPUR: Indian cagers failed to handle two big Bahrain boys to suffer a 31-point (80-111) defeat and crash out of the FIBA Asia Cup U-16 championship at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on Tuesday.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!For the third successive game, the Indian defence had no answer to the speed, size, and skills of their opponents, ending their campaign in the continental tournament with three straight losses. The 94th-ranked Bahrain utilised their big boys well to stun world No.39 India by 31 points.Bahrain’s consistent performers, Hassan Abdulkadir and Somto Onoduenyi, not only fired baskets from all corners of the court but also restricted Indian cagers from scoring.

Both Hassan and Somto recorded a double-double while scoring 31 and 30 points and collecting 21 and 18 rebounds, respectively.Though India had a positive start, they failed to keep the momentum going in the second quarter. The quarter-wise progress in Bahrain’s favour read 30-27, 23-12, 25-21, 33-20. Bahrain outrebounded India 64-49 to score as many as 30 second-chance points.For India, Arman (23), Shekhar Rathee (22), Krishna Suneriya (16), and Ansh Tomer (12) remained the notable scorers.RESULT: Bahrain (Hassan Abdulkadir 31, Somto Onoduenyi 30) bt India (Arman 23, Shekhar Rathee 22, Krishna Suneriya 16, Ansh Tomer 12) 111-80 (30-27, 23-12, 25-21, 33-20).