BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN’S senior men’s basketball national team has received a major boost for their medal bid at the fourth GCC Games in Doha, Qatar next month.
The Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA) has announced the signing of American professional Eric Rashard Buckner to bolster the squad in the tournament.
The six-foot, 10-inch big man will provide the much-needed inside presence for the nationals, with the absence of the kingdom’s top big men including Wayne Chism, Muzamil Ameer, and Mohammed Ameer from the current roster.
Buckner is set to join the nationals in their ongoing practices after arriving in the kingdom on Tuesday.
He is a seasoned veteran that can play the centre or power forward positions. He has played as a professional in leagues in Türkiye, Greece, France, Russia, Lithuania, and Uruguay, and played at the collegiate level in the US.
The GCC Games are scheduled to take place from May 11 to 22 with elite athletes from all six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations taking part.
Basketball is one of the 19 sports that will be a part of the programme at the Qatari capital. The others are 3x3 basketball, athletics, volleyball, handball, table tennis, squash, padel, fencing, boxing, taekwondo, karate, swimming, billiards, snooker, shooting, archery, equestrian, and bowling.
The nationals have begun their preparations at the BBA Arena in Um Al Hassam Sports Complex under the supervision of Greek head coach Georgios Vovoras and his staff.
Vovoras has called up 15 players for his initial team, including 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.
The Bahrainis will be playing three games over as many days in the opening phase of the men’s basketball tournament in this year’s GCC Games.
They get their medal bid underway against Saudi Arabia on May 15 and then take on the UAE the following evening. They complete the preliminaries against Qatar on May 17.
The outcomes of those 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.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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