BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN’S senior basketball national teams have tough schedules ahead of them in their respective bids for gold at the fourth GCC Games in Doha, Qatar next month.
The Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA) announced yesterday the preliminary round schedules for the kingdom’s squads in the men’s basketball tournament as well as in the men’s and women’s 3x3 basketball events.
The GCC Games are scheduled to take place from May 11 to 22 with elite athletes from all six GCC nations taking part.
Basketball and 3x3 basketball are part of the 19-sport programme at the Qatari capital. The others are athletics, volleyball, handball, table tennis, squash, padel, fencing, boxing, taekwondo, karate, swimming, billiards, snooker, shooting, archery, equestrian, and bowling.
The total number of sports that the kingdom’s delegation will be competing in at this year’s GCC Games has yet to be announced, although – to date – basketball, 3x3 basketball, volleyball, and handball are confirmed.
Bahrain’s 3x3 teams will be first in action when their respective competitions tip off on May 12.
The senior men’s squad will open their campaign against Oman before facing off with Kuwait in their next fixture later the same day.
The senior women, on the other hand, will first face the UAE and then lock horns with Saudi Arabia that same evening.
It is expected that the results of those contests will set the stage for the knockout phase in each 3x3 tournament.
The BBA have yet to announce their men’s 3x3 players who will be hitting the half court in Doha. For the women’s 3x3 squad, the BBA named an initial list of 10 players who are preparing for their event. They include Bayan Salman, Shereen Abdulrahman, Noor Najaf, Nouf Abdulla, Aya Kamali, Hessa Al Jaber, Maryam Sameer, Bayan Marhoon, Seema Ali, and Amina Hani.
Meanwhile, Bahrain’s senior men’s basketball national team will be playing three games over as many days in their competition’s opening phase.
They get their championship bid underway against Saudi on May 15 and then take on the UAE the following evening. They complete the preliminaries against Qatar on May 17.
The outcomes of these fixtures will determine the seeding for the semi-finals, to be held on May 19, where the top seeds will play the fourth and the second seeds will take on the third. The winners will move on to the gold medal clash, while the losers will face off for bronze, both happening the next day.
The BBA have revealed an initial 15-player squad that have begun gearing up for the GCC Games under the supervision of national team head coach Georgios Vovoras and his staff.
The roster includes Ahmed Salman, Ahmed Alderazi, Mohammed Buallay, Ali Jaber, Ahmed Bindayneh, Mahmood Abbas Isa, Mohammed Juma’a, Ali Hussain, Emran Ashkanani, Nader Ali, Hassan Ghareeb, Mohammed Ghazi, Mohammed Sami, Nader Shaker, and Hassan Fahad.
BBA president Shaikh Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Khalifa recently visited the Bahrainis’ practice session at the BBA Arena in Um Al Hassam Sports Complex, accompanied by other BBA officials.
The GCC Games will be the maiden competition for Bahrain’s senior men’s squad in a busy year. The nationals will also be playing in the first round of pre-qualifiers for the Fiba Asia Cup 2029, to be held in Dubai from August 24 to September 1.
The Bahrainis will then go up against the continent’s best in the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4; and then, if qualified, will compete in the second round of Fiba Asia Cup 2029 pre-qualifiers, scheduled from November 23 to December 1 at a yet-to-be-determined host venue.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))