BASKETBALL – NEWLY elected Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA) president Alaa Mudara vows to exert every effort alongside his administrative team to further uplift basketball in the kingdom to the highest levels.
The Bahraini businessman and former national team player recently ran unopposed for the federation’s presidency and has now assumed the reins from former BBA chief Captain Waleed Al Alawi.
His term runs until 2028, and during this time, the 61-year-old pledges to serve the kingdom’s basketball family to the best of his ability.
“Expect from the BBA work that matches your ambitions; and higher than that – this is my message to the ‘salawi’ community,” Mudara told the GDN in an exclusive interview.
Mudara has long been involved in Bahrain basketball. He had played the game since childhood and eventually became a key member of the kingdom’s junior and senior men’s national teams in the 1970s.
The former guard had suited up in major competitions such as the Asian Games, the Arab and Asian championships, and the like, and he looks back fondly to the days when he used to hit the court.
“I started playing in the neighbourhoods just like the rest, until I joined Al Ahli Club in the youth category,” Mudara explained. “I excelled there until I was chosen for the men’s team when His Highness Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa was the BBA president. He was the first president of this game in Bahrain.”
Mudara says that his time as a player will bring a unique mindset to his role as BBA president.
“Of course, if the president or board member was a former player in any federation, this makes it easier for him to work, because he knows every little thing about the game, what the game needs, and what the fans want,” Mudara explained. “Therefore, it will be easier to overcome the negatives through the positives that we will be able to provide administratively and technically.”
The BBA presidency is not the first role Mudara will be undertaking with the BBA. He had also served as assistant secretary general and national team manager from 1991 to 1993, while also being a part of the Manama Club administration.
“I worked administratively for a period at Manama and for a period on the federation’s board of directors, under the leadership of His Highness Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa.”
Mudara said that he had never thought about running for BBA president in the past, but then could not pass up the chance to serve the kingdom when the opportunity presented itself.
“Due to my continuous work inside and outside of Bahrain, I never planned to run for this position; although it is a great honour for every citizen to serve the country,” said Mudara, who established a real estate development company and investment advisory in Bahrain, with a branch in the UK. “But due to my continuous follow-up of the game, and when I saw that there was an opportunity to serve my country from this position, I preferred to run this year in light of reducing the percentage of work I have outside Bahrain.”
Mudara had plenty of support when he was nominated for BBA president. “It was a very natural process, and when I felt everyone’s backing, I knew that the time had come to return to basketball as an administrative man,” he said.
He stressed on the importance of having strong relationships with all those involved in the kingdom’s sporting community, particularly in basketball – from top to bottom – in order to succeed in his duties.
“The approach, or my strategy, for working in the BBA will be based on full co-operation with all other local federations, creating a strong relationship with member clubs, and making joint co-operation the permanent title of the work strategy on the federation’s table,” he said.
“A strong relationship with the fans of those clubs is also very important, as they are the arteries of local competitions and the positive energy for every participation of our national teams.
“Giving the fans importance and priority means exchanging respect between them and the federation, and it is also important to build relationships with the region’s other federations.”
Mudara also hopes to build on the recent successes of Bahrain’s national basketball league and the kingdom’s national teams – two of which won Gulf titles just before he took office.
The senior men’s squad were crowned champions for the first time ever in the Gulf Basketball Association (GBA) Championship for National Teams, hosted by the kingdom last month, while the youth team clinched the title in the U15 GBA Cup in Doha, Qatar in August.
“We have the strongest league in terms of fans in the Gulf, and we will seek to develop it more,” he said. “The league is the nerve of our game in Bahrain due to its popularity.
“We have a high-quality generation in the ranks of the first team, which recently won the Gulf title, and we will work to maintain this achievement. We also have a rising youth team, which must be developed more and more to create a future squad that may even compete at the continental level, if possible.”
Mudara chaired last week the first meeting of the new BBA board of directors, held at the federation’s headquarters in Umm Al Hassam. The kingdom’s new basketball chief is upbeat as he begins his tenure, and is eager to get things started.
“The ambition is, of course, great – very great – as is the same for every president in any sports federation,” Mudara said.
“He or she looks forward to raising the ceiling of his ambitions in presenting everything that is distinguished on all levels and files, and thus on the level of competitions, we will work on development in all categories.
“In marketing, it must also witness a change for the better through the formation of a special apparatus of experienced people; while regarding the national teams, we will continue to work on external participation and register Bahrain’s name in every event.
“We will work on the approach of sports leadership in the country, starting with His Majesty King Hamad’s humanitarian work and youth affairs representative and Supreme Council for Youth and Sport (SCYS) chairman His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, and SCYS first deputy chairman, General Sports Authority chairman, and Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) president His Highness Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, and reaching BOC vice-president His Highness Shaikh Isa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa.”
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))