Sana: Yemen's national teams began on Friday their participation in the 3rd Asian Youth Games, currently being held in Manama and running until 31 October.

According to Yemen News Agency, the national basketball team played three matches today, showing a good performance considering it is Yemen's first international participation in this sport, despite losing all three games. The basketball team lost its first match to Kazakhstan 20-9. In the second match, they faced Iran and the latter won 21-10. In the third match, Yemen showed its best performance of the day, leading for nearly half of the game, but the experience of the Sri Lankan team allowed them to secure a 22-16 victory.

In Taekwondo, national team player Moaz Nasser Nejad had a strong bout against Chinese champion Pan Yahan in the 48 kg category. The match ended with Pan winning two rounds to none, after an intense and exciting first round that ended narrowly 12-10 in favor of the Chinese athlete, before his experience helped him secure the second round 12-0.

Boxer Hussein Al-Suraichi opened Yemen's participation in boxing with his 46 kg match against Turkmenistan's champion Ovuljayevi. The bout ended with Ovuljayevi narrowly winning 30-27, after Al-Suraichi delivered a strong performance and challenged his opponent throughout much of the match.

Yemen's participation continues tomorrow, Saturday, in boxing and athletics. It is worth noting that Yemen is participating in the Games in ten sports: basketball, table tennis, judo, camel racing, swimming, wrestling, taekwondo, athletics, boxing, and weightlifting.