GCC GAMES – BAHRAIN will be fielding full-strength squads in the women’s and men’s 3x3 basketball tournaments at the fourth GCC Games, which gets underway tomorrow in Doha, Qatar.
The Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA) announced yesterday the final four-member rosters for the kingdom’s senior women’s and senior men’s 3x3 basketball national teams.
Going for gold in the women’s event are the quartet of Bayan Salman, Aya Kamali, Maryam Sameer, and Shereen Abdulrahman. For the men, Bahrain’s squad features Bogdan Dragovic, Mohammed Buallay, Austin Ajukwa, and Wayne Chism.
Both teams are scheduled to get their campaigns underway on Tuesday in the preliminary stage of their respective competitions.
Bahrain’s women are in Pool B for the opening phase, where they will first take on their counterparts from the UAE at 5.05pm and then will go up against Saudi Arabia at 6.45pm.
Pool A features Oman, Kuwait, and hosts Qatar.
The top two from each group will move on to the knockouts, to be held on Wednesday beginning with the semi-finals.
For the men, the Bahrainis are part of a five-nation field along with Saudi, the UAE, Kuwait, and hosts Qatar.
Their first assignment on Tuesday will be against the Saudis at 4.10pm and then they play Kuwait at 5.25pm. The nationals will next go up against Qatar at 6.15pm in their last fixture for the day.
They then continue their campaign on Wednesday with a clash against the UAE at 3.50pm. The top four on the standings will then move on to the semis later that same evening, which will then set the match-ups in the battles for gold and bronze.
According to a BBA official, the schedules for both the women’s and men’s tournaments may change and will be finalised only at the pre-event technical meeting, expected to be held tomorrow in the Qatari capital.
Bahrain’s participation in 3x3 basketball is part of their 15-sport programme at the Qatari capital. The kingdom’s athletes will also be competing with women’s and men’s teams in archery, athletics, billiards, boxing, handball, fencing, karate, padel, shooting, snooker, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, and volleyball.
This year’s GCC Games follow the three previous editions held in Kuwait City, Kuwait in 2022; in Dammam, Saudi in 2015; and in Bahrain in 2011.
The nationals bagged a sensational 64 medals from the 2022 meeting, including 20 gold medals, 23 silver, and 21 bronze. In 2015, they came away with 43 medals, including six gold, 21 silver, and 16 bronze; while in 2011, Bahrain came away with 19 medals, including eight gold, six silver, and five bronze.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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