BASKETBALL – AN 11-player squad was announced yesterday by the Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA) for the kingdom’s participation in their FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in San Juan, Puerto Rico this week.
The senior men’s basketball national team will be facing off with two giants in the game, including world number 13 Italy and world number 16 Puerto Rico, in Group B of their OQT as they aim to make history and secure a berth at the Paris Olympics 2024.
The Bahrainis, ranked 67th globally, first take on the Italians in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Bahrain time, before facing off with Puerto Rico the following day. They need to finish amongst the top two nations in their group to advance to the semi-finals on July 6, while the final will be held on July 7.
Group A features Mexico, Ivory Coast, and Lithuania. Only the winner of their OQT will book a ticket to the French capital.
The squad announced by the BBA includes top big men Wayne Chism, Muzamil Ameer Hamoda, and Mohammed Ameer Hamoda, along with talented guards Maitham Jameel, Ahmed Salman, and Ali Aqeel.
The rest of the team includes Ali Shukrallah, Sadeq Shukrallah, Hussain Ali, Mohammed Buallay, and Subah Hussain.
But a key name missing from the line-up is prolific scoring guard Mutsafa Hussain. He was one of Bahrain’s top players when they secured their place in their OQT, helping lead them to a five-game sweep of their FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Damascus, Syria, in August of last year.
It is also unclear if the Bahrainis will be filling their final roster spot for their OQT, with all other participating teams announcing 12-player rosters.
The nationals have been training locally over the past few weeks under head coach Jad El Hajj of Lebanon. They were originally scheduled to conduct a training camp in the US leading up to their OQT, but were forced to cancel their plans after facing visa issues.
The Bahrain delegation have already departed the kingdom and are scheduled to arrive in San Juan today evening.
Amongst the players they will be facing in their OQT are National Basketball Association (NBA) stars Danilo Gallinari of Italy and Jose Alvarado of Puerto Rico.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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