FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL)-Gulf Region runners-up Manama will take on FIBA WASL-West Asia champions Al Riyadi, from Lebanon, today in their first Group A game of the FIBA WASL Final 8 series at the Shaikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall in Dubai.
Eight teams, including the top three sides each from the FIBA WASL-West Asia and WASL-Gulf leagues plus the top teams from South and Central Asia, were supposed to take part in the competition which began yesterday with the opening game of the tournament between Kazakhstan’s BC Astana and Shabab Al Ahli from Dubai.
But Chennai Heat, the 2023 Indian National Basketball League (INBL) champions, pulled out of the tournament last week, leaving just three teams, including Manama, in Group A.
Last Thursday, the inaugural FIBA WASL trophy was unveiled at a tournament launch event with the magnificent Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, as the backdrop with the captains of the seven participating teams in attendance.
The beautiful trophy, which symbolises the globe with the countries whose clubs are participating in the tournament represented in gold, has four columns that support it and these represent the four sub-zones that make up FIBA WASL: Central Asia, South Asia, the Gulf and West Asia.
Meanwhile, Manama, whose two opponents in their group are both Lebanese clubs (the second being Beirut First), will be hoping that their consistent run of form through the 2022-23 season – which saw them reach the final of the WASL-Gulf Region tournament before losing to eventual champions Kuwait Club – will continue in this championship.
The Bahraini club also won the kingdom’s Khalifa bin Salman Cup title a fortnight ago and are poised to clinch the coveted league-and-cup double as they lead 2-0 in the best-of-five 2022-23 Zain Basketball League final series.
They’ve also been impressive in the FIBA WASL-Gulf Region championship, having lost only five games out of the 13 they played since the league began in December last year. Four out of those five defeats were to Kuwait Club, who capped their spectacular unbeaten run in the tournament by lifting the trophy last May.
In Al Riyadi, though, they will face opponents every bit as formidable as Kuwait Club.
The Lebanese side brushed aside Iran’s Gorgan, 2-0, in the best-of-three FIBA WASL-West Asia finals last month to stake a strong claim as one of the main contenders for the trophy.
Amir Saoud will lead Al Riyadi in today’s crucial Group A opening fixture while Manama will be captained by Hasan Nowrooz.
Group B features Kuwait Club, Shabab Al Ahli, Gorgan and BC Astana.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals and both finalists will qualify for the FIBA Champions Cup which provides the pathway to the international basketball body’s leading club competition – the Intercontinental Cup.
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