BASKETBALL – Bahrain’s under-23 3×3 basketball women’s national team secured an impressive runner-up finish yesterday in stop one of the Asia West/Pacific conference in the Fiba 3×3 Youth Nations League 2026, currently being played in Singapore.

The Bahrainis, featuring the quartet of Bayan Salman, Ninel Merkotun, Polina Sviatskaia, and JaMya Robinson, topped their preliminary round group after winning both their games against hosts Singapore and Saudi Arabia, but they then lost in the women’s final against Australia.

Their squad, coached by veteran Bahraini tactician Murtadha Mohammed, came away with 80 points following their classification in second place.

Yesterday’s action marked the first of six stops in the Asia West/Pacific conference of this year’s Fiba 3×3 Youth Nations League.

The second will take place today until the completion of the series on Wednesday next week.

Teams earn points in each of the stops as they continue their qualification bids for the Fiba 3×3 U23 World Cup, which is to be held in Hubei, China, from September 15 to 19.

Also competing yesterday in Singapore were Bahrain’s under-23 3×3 basketball men’s national team, who finished their competition in fourth place.

Coached by Fiba 3×3 World Tour standout Bogdan Dragovic, the Bahrainis split their two fixtures in the preliminaries which were also against Singapore and Saudi.

Their one victory wasn’t enough, however, to book their berth in the men’s final.

Their squad features Ismaeel Alansari, Elyas Younes, Mishal Buhamood, and Mohammed Alanzi.

They came away with 60 points on their conference standings.

Bahrain’s delegation in Singapore is headed by Bahrain Basketball Association official Ahmed Elyas.

Both the women’s and men’s squads feature two other players for a total of six apiece, with Noor Najaf and Amina Hani also looking to lace up their sneakers for the women and Nasser Alanzoor and Hamad Faisal hoping to play for the men.

In yesterday’s opening stop, Bahrain’s women got their Pool A campaign underway with a 13-9 victory over Singapore.

Robinson scored five points to pace the nationals while Salman added four, Sviatskaya had three, and Merkotun chipped in with one.

The kingdom’s squad then followed that up with a 19-5 rout of Saudi. Robinson and Sviatskaya finished with seven points apiece in Bahrain’s victory, while Salman had four and Merkotun one point.

In the women’s final, however, Australia were too good and they held the Bahrainis to just eight points en route to securing the 21-point target.

Salman scored four for the nationals while Sviatskaya added three and Merkotun one.

Meanwhile, the men’s team lost their opening Pool A game to the home side Singaporeans 6-21, with Alanzi finishing as their leading scorer with just three points.

They roared back with a 14-11 triumph against Saudi as Alansari, Younes, and Buhamood had four points apiece, while Alanzi chipped in with two markers.

Australia went on to win the men’s final 22-18 against Singapore.

In today’s second stop, both Bahrain’s women’s and men’s teams are in Pool A of their respective competitions along with Saudi and Qatar.

They will each once again hope to top their division to qualify for today’s final.

patrick@gdnmedia.bh

It’s the ‘Kuyas’ turn now.

A month after the Gilas Pilipinas Under-21 Boys clinched a spot in the FIBA 3×3 Under-23 World Cup, it’s now the Under-23 team’s turn to make its mark as the Philippines competes in the Asia SEA Conference of the FIBA 3×3 Youth Nations League.

The tournament runs from August 17 to 23 in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.

The men’s team will field a stacked lineup headlined by La Salle stalwarts Luis Pablo and Doy Dungo, both members of the reigning UAAP 3×3 champions.

They will be joined by Ateneo’s Shawn Tuano and Andrew Bongo, whom they faced in the UAAP 3×3 final. Tuano and Bongo missed the Blue Eagles’ Pinoyliga Big Dance game against the Fatima Phoenix earlier in the day.

Rounding out the squad are former UE Red Warrior Wello Lingolingo and former Green Archer Rhyle Melencio.

Meanwhile, the Gilas Women are also looking to punch their ticket to the World Cup.

The women’s team is composed of FEU’s Amyah Espano and Victoria Pasilang, UP’s Kennan Ka and Marielle Vingno, and Adamson’s Jam Meniano.

Both Philippine teams will face New Zealand, Malaysia, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, and Vietnam in the conference.

VICTORIA – Victoria’s Tyler Felt and Vikes newcomer Cole Bekkering are set to make their Team Canada debuts this week as members of Canada’s U21 men’s squad at the FIBA 3×3 Nations League Americas South in Asunción, Paraguay, July 20-26.

Felt and Bekkering will join Joshua Ahayere (Morinville, Alta.), Nylan Roberts (Abbotsford, B.C.), Andrew McKenna (Kingston, Ont.) and Andrew Urosevic (Kitchener, Ont.) on the Canadian roster, which will be led by head coach Jordan Jensen-Whyte.

The tournament marks both the Canadian national team and 3×3 debuts for all six athletes. The roster features a blend of NCAA and U SPORTS talent, with five players having previously attended Canada Basketball Easter Camps. The group arrives in Paraguay with a strong mix of size, athleticism and experience as they prepare to compete against some of the top young players in the Americas.

Felt and Bekkering follow in the footsteps of Vikes teammates Ethan Boag and Shadynn Smid, who represented Team Canada at last year’s Nations League competition in Punta Arenas, Chile.

Felt is coming off an impressive rookie campaign that helped the Vikes capture a U SPORTS bronze medal. The Spectrum Community School graduate appeared in 25 games, averaging 5.1 points and 2.7 rebounds per contest while recording 16 blocks. He scored a season-high 21 points against UBC Okanagan on Jan. 30 and grabbed a season-best eight rebounds against Regina on Nov. 14.

Felt will be joined by incoming Vikes teammate Cole Bekkering, who returns to his hometown of Victoria after spending last season at NCAA Division II Biola University in La Mirada, Calif. Vikes head coach Murphy Burnatowski describes Bekkering as a “Swiss Army knife” player whose versatility, size and athleticism will make an immediate impact on the program.

The tournament is an opportunity for both athletes to test themselves against top international talent ahead of a season where they will look to contend for another national championship with the Vikes.

The Americas conference will feature six three-game tournaments in seven days, including daily pool play and a final. Teams earn tour standing points after each one-day event. The best-ranked team in the standings after the sixth day will be declared the conference winner and qualify for the FIBA 3×3 U23 World Cup 2026, taking place September 15–19 in Wuhan, China.

Canada opens play at the FIBA 3×3 Nations League 2026 on Monday, July 20, at Stop 1 of the competition, with both teams set to face Argentina. The men’s national team tips off at 3:15 p.m. ET / 12:15 p.m. PT. All games will stream live on the FIBA 3×3 YouTube Channel.

Launched in 2017, the FIBA 3×3 Nations League was built as a proving ground for U21 and U23 talent.

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‍Canada 3×3 U21 Men’s National Team Roster

Joshua Ahayere – Morinville, Alta.

Cole Bekkering – Victoria, B.C.

Tyler Felt – Victoria, B.C.

Andrew McKenna – Kingston, Ont.

Nylan Roberts – Abbotsford, B.C.

Andrew Urosevic – Kitchener, Ont.

 

A UBC T-Bird has reached new heights.
 
Nylan Roberts, a six-foot-seven forward who is about to suit up for his third season in the blue and gold, just had the opportunity to represent his country on the national stage.
 
The U21 Canadian rosters for the FIBA 3×3 Youth Nations League were announced earlier this month, and the Abbotsford, B.C. native secured a spot alongside five other players with NCAA and U Sports experience on their resume. Led by head coach and UBC Thunderbird men’s basketball alum Jordan Jensen-Whyte, the team travelled to Paraguay to face off in a six-day tournament, and Roberts wasted little time making an impact.
 

Team Canada opened the tournament with back-to-back wins against Argentina and Brazil, with Roberts combining for 11 of the team’s 38 points. He then followed up on day two by scoring a team-high eight points to lift his side to a 21-18 win over Chile.

Roberts continued to contribute but, as the tournament went on, the competition stiffened. On the sixth and final day, Team Canada matched up with Brazil to keep their qualifying hopes alive but narrowly fell in a nail-biter that went down to the wire, 21-20. Roberts knocked down a free throw in the final two minutes to hand his side a five-point lead, but Brazil stormed back and finished the game on a 7-3 run to seal the win.

 

Throughout the tournament, the team averaged 19.7 points per game, more than anybody in its group. However, they just came up short in the conference standings. Decided by Tour Points, which are awarded based on each day’s finish, Canada narrowly missed out on a spot in September’s qualifiers as they closed out the tournament with 500, putting them just behind first-place Argentina (510).

Roberts is coming off a successful sophomore season with the T-Birds. With an increase in minutes and starts, he averaged 12.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and nearly a steal a game to help his squad finish with a 23-8 record and secure a spot in the U Sports Men’s Basketball Final 8. The Thunderbirds will return to action for the 2026-2027 season at War Memorial Gymnasium, with opening night tip-off to begin at 7:30 p.m. on October 29 against the Trinity Western Spartans.