Bahrain eyeing basketball World Cup qualification

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

NBA title-winning Bahrain head coach Sam Vincent has named 14 players on the senior men’s national team that will be preparing for the start of the Asian qualification competition for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

The squad is set to leave today for Jeddah for an overseas training camp until November 20, where they will also play two friendly games against the Saudi Arabian national team.

The Bahrainis are scheduled to begin their qualifying bid in Group D on November 26 against Iran in Tehran, before facing off with the Iranians once again on November 29 at the Khalifa Sports City arena in Isa Town.

The other teams in their group are Syria and Kazakhstan. The players named on the team include Mohammed Qurban, Maitham Jameel, Hesham Sarhan, Mohammed Kuwayed and Subah Hussain from defending back to-back league champions Al Ahli; Mohammed Hussain, Mohammed Ameer, Ahmed Salman and Nader Shaker from Manama; CJ Giles, Mohammed Buallay and Ali Jaber from Al Najma; and Ali Shukrallah and Ali Rabea from Muharraq.

The nationals will be missing young star Muzamil Ameer for the upcoming two games, which are a part of the first window of qualification.

Muzamil is currently in the U.S. where he is a student-athlete currently playing with Utah State University in Division I basketball under the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) banner.

Bahrain’s next two fixtures will be in the second window, scheduled for next year. Their third game is against Syria on February 24 and then they go against Kazakhstan on February 27. The final window in July of 2022 will include their last two games of the first round, against Syria on July 1 and Kazakhstan on July 4.

For this first round of qualifiers, 16 teams from Asia/Oceania are divided into four groups of four teams to play in home-andaway games.

The three best-placed teams from each group will advance to the second round. There, the 12 remaining nations will be divided into two groups of six. Each team will face teams from another group.

Results from the first round will be carried. The top three teams from each group, along with World Cup co-hosts Japan and the Philippines, will qualify.

However, if the third co-hosts Indonesia manage to qualify as hosts by making the quarterfinals of the next FIBA Asia Cup, only the top two teams from each group, along with the best third-place team, will qualify.

The qualifiers, which also feature competition in Africa, the Americas and Europe, are set to determine a 32-nation field for the tournament finals. Eighty teams in all are participating in World Cup qualifying.

The qualification process will include six windows over 15 months. Bahrain earned their place in the qualifiers after securing their berth in the FIBA Asia Cup. The Bahrainis have yet to compete in the FIBA World Cup.