Basketball
Indian basketball team ends Olympics qualifiers with 2 wins, 3 losses
India lost their third match on the trot 66-79 against Bahrain to finish their 2024 Olympic qualification campaign at 3rd spot in the Asian zone.
India ended their campaign at 3rd spot on the FIBA Asia Olympics qualifiers points table behind Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. (BFI)
The Indian basketball team ended the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament Asia 2023 campaign with a 66-79 defeat against Bahrain in Damascus, Syria on Thursday.
Sahaij Sekhon was the top performer of the day with 17 points.
India have ended the group stages at third spot on the points table behind Bahrain and Saudi Arabia with two wins and three losses.
Bahrain have qualified for the 2024 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament on the basis of finishing on top of the Asian qualification group. Only one spot was on offer from this zone for the next round of qualifiers, set to be held next year.
India had started the campaign with dazzling wins against Syria and Indonesia. There was a narrow defeat to Kazakhstan, the highest ranked side in the group, after which there were convincing defeats against Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
The Indian men's basketball has appeared in the Olympics only once, finishing 12th at the Moscow 1980 Games. They had qualified because many other top basketball nations had backed out for political reasons.
