BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN’S senior men’s basketball national team have begun their training under new head coach Georgios Vovoras.
The nationals are gearing up to compete in the 44th William Jones Cup, among other competitions, in the coming months. The Jones Cup is scheduled to take place in Chinese Taipei from July 12 to 20.
It will be the first tournament with Vovoras in charge of the Bahrainis, who will be making a return to the event after a long hiatus. Their only other participation was in the event’s 1978 edition.
The national team is training at the Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA) Arena in Um Al Hassam.
Vovoras is currently working with a line-up that includes Mustafa Hussain, Muzamil Ameer, Mohammed Ameer, Ahmed Salman, Subah Hussain, and Mohammed Juma’a, along with Ahmed Khalifa, Ali Hussain, Abdulqader Thani, Ali Jaber, Murtadha Salman, Mohammed Ghazi, Hamad Faisal, Ali Hussain, Mahmood Abbas, Wayne Chism, Elijah Thomas, Jakarr Sampson.
Almost all the national team players called up have joined the practices.
Meanwhile, BBA president Alaa Mudara received Vovoras in a meeting that was also attended by national team assistant coach and former Bahraini international Ahmed Abdulaziz.
Mudara welcomed Vovoras and wished him success in his tenure with the kingdom’s senior men’s squad. He emphasised the BBA’s commitment to providing all possible technical and administrative support to be able to lead the national team to new heights.
Mudara added that Vovoras’s appointment falls within the BBA’s strategy to develop Bahrain’s internationals by leveraging European technical expertise. He noted that this upcoming phase requires utmost teamwork to achieve the desired goals at the regional and continental levels.
For his part, Vovoras expressed his happiness in taking over as head coach of Bahrain, and stressed his determination to do everything in his power to develop the national team and build a strong group.
Vovoras is a renowned figure in international basketball, having coached at a number of top clubs across Europe including in Greece, Russia, Cyprus, Hungary, and most recently Lithuania.
The 48-year-old was also a member of the technical staff of teams that participated in elite tournaments such as the Euroleague and Eurocup, in addition to the NBA Summer League in the US with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2017 and the Milwaukee Bucks in 2023.
The upcoming William Jones Cup will be bringing together national teams, university squads, and club sides from around the world, offering a platform for high-level competition and exposure to diverse playing styles.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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