ULAANBAATAR (Mongolia)- Three-time former champions China powered their way past Bahrain for a 84-69 in the FIBA U16 Asia Cup 2025 Quarter-Finals at the M Bank Arena on Friday.
The win took coach Wang Jianjun’s team to their sixth Semi-Final entry in as many appearances in the history of this competition along with taking them to a slot in next year’s FIBA U17 World Cup in Turkey.
China will now aim to avenge their Semi-Final defeat of two years ago when they take on New Zealand, who earlier in the day, defeated Iran.
Chen Yuxiu was impeccable in all his scoring attempts – thrice from beyond the arc and twice from the foul-stripe providing the early spark as China seized the initiative on the flow of the game.
Fellow guard Shi Minghao kept the fire burning providing relief to Chen and the two Zhejiang youngsters carried the flag rather well for China with Fujian forward Zhang Chunzhi his composed self under the boards.
Shi – who is associated with Zhejiang Chouzhou – returned a dozen points while Chen who dons the Zhejiang Guangsha colours each had as many.
Zhang Chunzhi pulled seven defensive rebounds in a total collection of 11 boards with his 19 points.
Somto Patrick yet remained in his flip-flops and confined to the bench and in his absence, Hassan Abdulkadir was ploughing a battle that was lonesome but losing for Bahrain.
Abdulkadir’s double-double of 29 points and 21 rebounds kept the Gulf Qualifiers toppers from getting blown away.
FIBA