BASKETBALL – DEFENDING champions Manama have been drawn in Group A for the preliminary round of the 2023-24 Fiba West Asia Super League (WASL) Final Eight.
The draw was held virtually yesterday for the prestigious competition, which will decide the overall title winners in the WASL’s second edition. The Final Eight is scheduled to take place in Doha, Qatar from May 25 to June 1.
Manama, one of three teams representing the WASL Gulf sub-zone, are in the same pool as WASL West Asia sides Al Riyadi and CS Sagesse from Lebanon, as well as Central Asia representative BC Astana from Kazakhstan. Group B features Gulf outfits Kuwait Club and Kazma, both from Kuwait, with West Asian club Shahradry Gorgan of Iran and South Asian team Tamil Nadu from India.
Following the Final Eight’s single round-robin group stage, the top two teams will progress to the semi-finals, while the third and fourth-placed teams will be eliminated from contention. The semis victors will then compete for the ultimate prize in the single-game finale.
Manama won the inaugural WASL competition by outlasting Kuwait Club in the decider of last year’s Final Eight, held in Dubai, the UAE.
The two finalists will also earn spots in the inaugural Basketball Champions League Asia (BCL Asia), which will be played directly after the Final Eight in Dubai from June 9 to 15.
The BCL Asia will feature eight teams in all. Aside from the top two WASL teams, the others are Pelita Jaya from Indonesia and the NS Matrix Deers from Malaysia who were the first and second-placed squads from the BCL Asia’s second qualification round, along with Korean Basketball League champions Busan KCC Egis, and the champion teams from China, Japan, and the Philippines.
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