‘Hard work, team work wins’: Manama coach Gavriel

TDT | Manama                                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com     

Manama head coach Pantelis Gavriel praised his players for their “hard work and team work”, which he says has been their formula for success in recent weeks.

The reigning Bahrain league champions on Monday night secured their berth in the Gulf sub-zone finals of the 2022/2023 FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL).

They punched their tickets after completing a twogame sweep of Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia in their best-of-three semi-final clash. With their finals appearance, Manama became the first first team to seal their place to the much-anticipated WASL Final 8, happening in June.

The top three teams from the WASL Gulf and WASL West Asia sub-zones qualify for the WASL Final 8, where they will be joined by champions of South Asia and Central Asia.

The WASL Final 8 will qualify for FIBA Asia Champions Cup 2023, on the road to FIBA Intercontinental Cup 2023, FIBA’s highest club competition.

Gavriel commented: “I’m the kind of person or a coach who always believes that anything is possible with hard work. And this is what I do throughout my career.

It’s a combination of things, you know. It’s not only my arrival, but Momo’s [Lamont Jones] arrival, a player with a strong personality and leadership ability; and Travin [Thibodeaux], who is the right piece for our team – a defensive stopper who can shoot from outside. So, yes, I’m always expecting the best.

“Obviously it’s a surprise to see underdogs to kick out Hilal and Kazma – we’re talking about budget, names, etc.

But always, hard work and team work wins. I always believe we can do the best.”

Jones and fellow-professional Elijah Robinson said that they had not expected to be in the WASL finals, but are delighted to see how they’re team has grown from the time they had arrived.

“When I first got here, from what I saw, was guys not listening – not being together, so to say,” Jones said. “I think as time went on, coach came in, Travin came in, we started to form an identity. I think day by day, we’ve begun to listen more, we’ve begun to come together more, and we’ve begun to accept responsibility more.

Whereas, I think, when I first came in, there’s no responsibility.

Now there’s a lot of responsibility.” Robinson added: “You know, it’s been a crazy season. To actually get there? We had nothing but belief that we would get to this moment right here. It feels expected, but it’s glad that it’s here.”

Manama now face the winner of the other Gulf zone semi-final between Shabab Al Ahli of Dubai and Kuwait SC of Kuwait in the finals.

The losing semi-finalists will go head-to-head for the Gulf bronze medals. Both series will be best-of-three.