Grind Basketball Academy Dubai’s youngest squad returned from Singapore as a Division 1 finalist, closing an undefeated elimination run at the World Youth Championship Basketball League with a runner-up finish. The Born 2015 team, playing in the under-11 bracket, lost the championship game to a team from the Philippines.
The academy had traveled to the August 6–9 tournament as the only UAE club entered in both the Born 2015 and Born 2014 divisions, making its players the youngest UAE delegates at the event. According to the academy, the 2015 squad competed against 21 teams from 14 countries, went through the elimination round without a loss to earn a place in Division 1, then advanced through the semifinals to reach the final.
The result marks the second straight year Grind has reached an international final in Singapore only to meet a Philippine team at the last hurdle. The club’s run to this tournament grew out of a similar finish at an Asia Pacific event in the city-state a year earlier, which also ended against a side from the Philippines.
Announcing the result, the academy framed the loss as a step forward rather than a setback. “We may not have clinched the championship, but what this young team accomplished at the World Youth Championship Singapore is something to be proud of,” it said in a statement, adding that the finals “may not have ended the way we hoped” but gave the players “a clearer understanding of what they need to improve, the confidence that they can compete on the international stage, and even more hunger to grow.”
Grind Basketball Academy Dubai was founded in December 2024 and won the championship at its debut in the NBTC Qualifiers in Dubai. Much of its support base comes from the Filipino community in the UAE. The academy signaled the Singapore campaign was a starting point, not an endpoint. “This is only the beginning,” it said. “They’ll learn, work harder, and definitely come back stronger.”
