Defending champions Australia opened their campaign at the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2026 with a thumping 102- 32 win over Thailand at the Veer Savarkar sports complex here on Thursday.

For the Aussies Yahya Basaran scored a whopping 27 points while Apirach Boonsrang top scored for Thailand with 7 baskets.

The second match saw the Philippines edging out Chinese Taipei 89-88 in a thrilling encounter.

Philippines had a comfortable 53-29 lead over Chinese Taipei by the end of the second Quarter, however the latter made a strong comeback during the last two quarters to end the match 88-89.

Chinese Taipei's Jia-Han Huang top scored in the match with 28 baskets while Jan Bennett Cagurungan netted 22 times for the Philippines. Liu Ting-Kuan and Huang Jia-Han also had a good match for Chinese Taipei scoring 21 and 15 points respectively.

New Zealand faced a tough stand from Syria throughout the game before coming away with the 67-58 victory.

Jackson Ball led the Kiwis with 19 points, while Arana Robertson came through with 11 as the tandem steadied the ship in the fourth quarter after their West Asian foes threatened from down 60-45.

Taym Aldassouki led Syria with 15 points in the gallant stand while Majak Majak added 11 points and 7 rebounds.

Bahrain overcame Lebanon 74-68, Hassan Abdulkadir led the way with 19 points while Mahdi Habib also tallied 19 baskets.

It was another closely fought game with the Lebanese registering comebacks and cutting the deficit to a single digit on multiple occasions.

Johnny Sawma shone for Lebanon with 27 points, while hile Jeffry Khairallah netted 14 times.

The tournament, which is making a comeback to India after 22 years, features 16 teams divided into four groups and will conclude on August 23.

The four semifinalists of the tournament will qualify for the prestigious FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2027 that will be held in Pardubice, Czechia on June 26 to July 4, 2027.

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