The Indian men\u2019s basketball team clinched a hard-fought 81-77 victory over Bahrain at Khalifa Sports City on Saturday, securing their place in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025.<\/p>\n
In a tense contest against world No. 66 Bahrain, India, ranked 81st in the FIBA men\u2019s basketball rankings, displayed remarkable resilience to overcome a late deficit and seal the win in the final qualifying round.<\/p>\n
India finished at the top of Group H after winning both their matches in the final phase of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers. They had earlier registered a dominant 97-77 win over Iraq on Friday.<\/p>\n
India Qualifies for 11th Consecutive FIBA Asia Cup<\/p>\n
This round of the qualifiers featured six third-placed teams from the previous stage, competing for the last four spots in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025, which will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from August 5 to 17.<\/p>\n
The teams were divided into two groups, with the top two from each group earning qualification. India\u2019s back-to-back wins secured them the Group H title, while Iraq and Bahrain will battle for the second qualification spot on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Harsh Dagar Shines as India Edges Bahrain in a Nail-Biter<\/p>\n
Against Bahrain, Harsh Dagar emerged as the standout performer, leading India with a game-high 28 points. He was in sublime form from beyond the arc, shooting an impressive 6-of-8 while also contributing three rebounds, three assists, and two steals.<\/p>\n
Kanwar Sandhu added 15 points, while Pranav Prince and Muin Bek Hafeez chipped in with 11 points and eight rebounds each. The duo also combined for eight assists.<\/p>\n
India started strong, with Dagar setting the tone early from long range. They controlled the game for most of the contest and entered the fourth quarter with a 62-53 lead. However, hosts Bahrain staged a spirited comeback, led by Subah Azzam, to take a 77-75 advantage with under two minutes remaining.<\/p>\n
Krishnan Delivers in the Clutch<\/p>\n
With the game on the line, Arvind Krishnan stepped up in the clutch, curling off a screen to drain a crucial three-pointer from the left wing, putting India back in front at 78-77 with 1:39 remaining.<\/p>\n
Although Krishnan momentarily lost possession with a turnover, he quickly made amends by snatching a vital steal from Wayne Chism. Moments later, Hafeez split a pair of free throws to extend India\u2019s lead to two points.<\/p>\n
Bahrain had one final opportunity, but Prince forced a crucial turnover, intercepting Mosti Rashed\u2019s inbound pass intended for Mohammed Ameer. With just 11 seconds left on the clock, India regained possession, leaving the hosts with little room for a comeback.<\/p>\n
Bahrain resorted to fouling in a desperate attempt to prolong the game, but Krishnan calmly sank both free throws to seal India\u2019s 11th consecutive FIBA Asia Cup qualification, a streak that dates back to 2001.<\/p>\n
Road to the FIBA World Cup 2027<\/p>\n
India\u2019s victory over Bahrain not only secured their place in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 but also earned them a spot in the FIBA World Cup 2027 Qualifiers, marking another major milestone for Indian basketball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Indian men\u2019s basketball team clinched a hard-fought 81-77 victory over Bahrain at Khalifa Sports City on Saturday, securing their place in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025. In a tense contest against world No. 66 Bahrain, India, ranked 81st in the FIBA men\u2019s basketball rankings, displayed remarkable resilience to overcome a late deficit and seal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14799,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14798"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14800,"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14798\/revisions\/14800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}