BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN’S national basketball champions Manama will be looking to secure a place today in the Final Eight of the 2024-25 Fiba West Asia Super League (WASL).
Manama are set to lock horns with Al Qadsia SC of Kuwait in the game for third place in the Fiba WASL’s Gulf sub-zone.
The one-off contest will be played at Shaikh Saad Alabdullah Sport Hall Complex in Kuwait City, and it is scheduled for a 7pm tip-off, Bahrain time.
The winners will not only take the Gulf sub-zone bronze medals but will also clinch their berth in the Final Eight, where they will battle for the overall Fiba WASL title.
Manama, who were the first-ever Fiba WASL champions in the 2022-23 season, are hoping to qualify for the ultimate competition for the third successive year. They have yet to miss the Final Eight in the Fiba WASL’s two seasons so far.
A win tonight would put them through alongside Gulf sub-zone finalists Shabab Al Ahli of the UAE and Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia.
Manama are coached by Linos Gavriel, and will be relying heavily on their professional trio of Tony Carr, Clint Chapman, and Chad Brown. They also have a strong Bahraini cast of talented players, including Ahmed Salman, Subah Hussain, Mohammed Kowayed, Ali Jaffar, and Mohammed Buallay, among others.
In the Fiba WASL Final Eight, the top three teams from the Gulf sub-zone will join the top three from the West Asia sub-zone along with the champions of South and Central Asia.
That tournament will determine this season’s overall Fiba WASL champions.
Tonight’s clash will be the third meeting between Manama and Qadsia in this Fiba WASL season. The Bahrainis had lost both previous games, held during the Gulf sub-zone group stage – first in Kuwait City in October of last year and then at home in January.
Following the preliminary round, Manama bowed out in the Gulf semi-finals in two games against Shabab Al Ahli, which dropped them to tonight’s bronze medal contest.
Shabab Al Ahli and Ittihad begin their best-of-three clash for the Gulf sub-zone title tomorrow with game one. Game two is scheduled for April 15 and game three, if needed, on April 22.
Manama were the first-ever winners of the Fiba WASL’s overall crown in its inaugural campaign. They had also missed out on the Gulf crown that year, having finished as runners-up in the sub-zone.
In last year’s Fiba WASL, they lost all three of their games in the Final Eight’s group phase and were unable to defend their overall championship.
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