BAHRAIN take on the UAE in their opening game of the Fiba Asia Cup 2021 Pre-Qualifiers, to be hosted by the kingdom later this week.
The first day of play will be on Friday at Zain Basketball Arena in Um Al Hassam. The schedule was released late Monday night by the organising committee.
There will be two games, starting with Oman facing off with Saudi Arabia at 5pm and to be followed at 7pm by the Bahrainis’ opening fixture.
Following a rest day on Saturday, Bahrain’s next assignment will be against Saudi Arabia on Sunday at 7pm. The UAE and Oman face off in the early fixture.
The final day on Monday will see Saudi and the UAE face off in the evening’s first game followed by Bahrain clashing with Oman.
Bahrain’s senior men’s national basketball team, coached by Salman Ramadhan, includes Mohammed Kuwayed, Bader Abdulla Malabes, Ahmed Abdulaziz, Hassan Nowrooz, Subah Hussain, Mohammed Juma’a, Mohammed Ameer, Ahmed Najaf, Ahmed Hassan, Hussain Shaker, Maytham Jameel and Ali Shukrallah.
The Bahrainis have been in Istanbul over the past week conducting an overseas training camp in preparation for their Pre-Qualification games.
The nationals played a number of tune-up contests while at camp.
The qualifiers in Bahrain will be followed by a second phase which will be held in Dubai in June. The same four Gulf teams are taking part in the qualification process, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman.
A couple of the participating national teams have already arrived in the kingdom to begin their final preparations for the qualifiers. Oman were the first to arrive from Muscat. They were received at Bahrain International Airport by officials from the Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA), who conveyed the greetings of BBA president Shaikh Isa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa.
System
The qualifiers in Bahrain and Dubai are part of the new Fiba Competition System and Calendar. The Pre-Qualifiers will determine which teams will join the Main Qualification Process, beginning in November of next year, for the Fiba Asia Cup 2021.
The main qualifiers will feature 24 teams, to be divided into six groups of four nations each. The top two teams from each group will directly advance to the Asian competition while each third-ranked squad will play in a second round. These six teams will then be divided into two groups of three. At the end of this stage, the top two teams from each group will qualify for the Fiba Asia Cup 2021.