Manama, Mar 23, 2025, IANS

Manama, March 23 (IANS) India displayed poise in the endgame to survive the hard-fighting Bahrain 81-77 in Group H and secured their place in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 from the final qualifying phase after Chinese Taipei and Guam, who booked their spots after going 1-2 in Group G. "Indian Cagers dominate Group H with wins over Bahrain and Iraq, securing their spot in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 And that's not all— they’ve also punched their ticket to the FIBA World Cup 2027 Qualifiers!," the Basketball Federation of India posted on X. Clutch plays from Arvind Krishnan and Pranav Prince on both ends of the floor enabled India to eke out the all-important win after it coughed up a lead as big as 12 points and trailed by two with 1:54 left. This was India’s second straight victory in Group H of the final qualifying tournament for the FIBA Asia Cup 2025. They had beaten Iraq 97-77 in their other Group H match on Friday. After India's win, the meeting between Bahrain and Iraq on Sunday night has now become a virtual knockout for the 16th and last ticket to the showpiece to be held from August 5-17 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Harsh Dagar starred in the triumph with 28 points on an excellent 6-of-8 clip from beyond the arc as he helped India set the tone early. He also had 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals to net an efficiency of 30. Kanwar Sandhu made his presence felt with 15 points, while the tandem of Prince and Hafeez finished with identical numbers of 11 points and 8 rebounds and combined for a total of 8 assists.' India appeared to have regained full control of the match when they built a 62-53 lead entering the fourth quarter, only to allow the home team to rally and get ahead, 77-75, behind Subah Azzam. Krishnan, however, using a screen before pulling up for a three-pointer from the left wing to give the lead back to themselves, 78-77, with 1:39 remaining, FIBA reports. The young floor general actually committed a turnover moments later but more than made up for it with a crucial steal against Wayne Chism before Hafeez split his foul shots to extend their lead to a field goal. Off a timeout, Prince forced a turnover when he deflected Mosti Rashed's inbound pass intended to Mohammed Ameer, who had the last touch on the ball. Bahrain had no choice but to foul in an attempt to freeze the clock and hope for misses, but Krishnan made a perfect trip to the line with 11 seconds left to ice the game and settle the final count. "Really proud of our guys, you know, to come in here and win two games when it easily could've gone the other way. This is now our third win in the Asia Cup Qualifiers and these are uncharted areas that we haven't had fora long time in India. It's all about them. I'm just trying to put them in a position to win and they take over from here. We still have things to work on... really proud of these guys. We're going to the Asia Cup," said India head coach Scott Flemming.