Bahrain basketball team leave for Turkey camp

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national basketball team departed yesterday for Istanbul where they will conduct an overseas training camp in preparation for a pair of their upcoming competitions.

The nationals will be in the Turkish capital until January 4, and during this period they will play several friendly games against local opposition.

They are gearing up for their fast-approaching campaigns in the GCC Games in Kuwait, scheduled to tip-off on January 7, as well as for the second window of FIBA Asia qualifiers for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 in February.

The Bahrain delegation that travelled to Turkey is headed by Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA) national teams committee vice-chairman Ali Al Khaja.

It includes NBA-title winning head coach Sam Vincent, assistant coach Ayoub Haji, the rest of the national team’s coaching and administrative staff, and 12 players, namely Mohammed Qurban, Subah Hussain, Hisham Sarhan, Maytham Jameel and Mohammed Kowayed from back-to-back league champions Al Ahli; Mohammed Hussain, Mohammed Ameer and Ahmed Salman from Manama; CJ Giles and Ali Jaber from Al Najma; and Mohammed Nasser and Ali Rabea from Muharraq.

In the upcoming GCC Games, Bahrain’s men’s team will take to the hardwood for five games between January 7 and 12.

They will begin their campaign against their counterparts from the UAE on January 7.

They then meet hosts Kuwait the next evening, before facing Qatar on January 10.

On January 11, they play Saudi, followed by their final game against Oman the next day.

In the FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifiers, Bahrain is in Group D alongside Iran, Syria and Kazakhstan.

The nationals have already played their first two games last month— both losses to Iran as part of the first window of qualifying action. They return to the hardwood for the second window, scheduled for February 24 and 27, when they go against Syria and then Kazakhstan, respectively.

The final window will be in July of 2022, when they take on Syria on July 1 and Kazakhstan on July 4.

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

The three best-placed teams from each group will advance to the second round.