Muscat: Oman lost to Saudi Arabia 55-102 in the Gulf Youth Basketball Championship for under 18 years, which qualifies for the Asia Cup. The tournament is hosted by Kuwait from July 29 to August 3 at the Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah Al Sabah Complex Hall.
The championship is a qualifier for the Asian Cup finals to be held in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
Despite a balanced start in the first quarter, where Omanis tried to keep up with the Saudis, the latter managed to end the first quarter with a score of 25-12 in their favor, benefiting from the speed of their attacks and the accuracy of their shots.
In the second quarter, Oman tried to reduce the gap, but defensive and offensive mistakes continued, allowing Saudi to end the second quarter with a score of 19-15, increasing the gap to 17 points by the end of the first half.
In the third quarter, the gap increased significantly as the Saudi team completely dominated the court, benefiting from fast break attacks and three-point shots, ending the quarter with a score of 32-15 in favor of the Saudi team, which significantly doubled the gap.
In the fourth and final quarter, the Saudi team continued to impose their rhythm on the game, while the national team tried in vain to reduce the gap, ending the quarter with a score of 26-13, and the match ended with a significant margin in favor of the Saudi team.
Most of the national team's points were scored by Abdulrahman al Maamari and Qaisar al Balushi with 11 points each, in addition to Asim al Bahlani who scored 8 points, and Azzan al Ajmi who scored 7 points.
In the second match, Kuwait managed to achieve a well-deserved victory over its Bahrain counterpart with a score of 85-66. The Kuwaiti team presented an outstanding performance throughout the match, surpassing the Bahrain team by 19 points. The Kuwaiti players stood out due to their strong defensive and offensive organization, allowing them to control the course of the game and score a large number of points.
The Oman national youth team will meet its Bahrain counterpart in the next match on Wednesday, in an attempt to compensate for the loss. Meanwhile, the Saudi team will meet the Qatari team on the same day.
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