Manama set for WASL Final Eight

TDT | Manama                                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com     

Bahrain’s Manama Club will be playing in Group A for the FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL) Final Eight. The tournament is scheduled to take place June 9 to 17 in Dubai.

Six teams from the WASL Sub-Zone Leagues make up the Final Eight. Manama, Gulf zone runners-up, are with West Asia champions Al Riyadi, fellow-Lebanese side and West Asia bronze-medallists Beirut First Club, and either Kazakhstan champions BC Astana or the champion team of India.

Group B features Gulf champions Kuwait SC and Gulf third-placers Shabab Al Ahli of the UAE, West Asia zone silver-medallists Gorgan and either Astana or the champions of India.

The Final Eight will play a single round-robin in their groups, with the two best squads from each advancing to the semi-finals.

The third and fourth-placers of each group by the end of the group phase will be eliminated.

Victors of the semis will then figure in a winner-take-all final to earn the distinction of becoming the first-ever WASL champions.

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

Rubber match

Manama will be playing bitter rivals Al Ahli tonight in a winner-take-all third game in their best-of-three Golden Square semi-final series in the 2022/2023 Zain Bahrain Basketball League.

Ahli won game one but Manama forced the decider with a game two victory. Tonight’s clash is scheduled for a 7pm tip-off.

It will be played at the Khalifa Sports City Arena in Isa Town. The winner of the rubber match will take on Muharraq in the best-of-five championship series.

Muharraq already booked t h e i r seat after defeating Al Ettihad in their Golden Square match-up.

The finals are slated to get underway with game one on June 2, as per the schedule released by the Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA).

The BBA has also announced the date for the Khalifa bin Salman Cup final between Manama and Muharraq. That will be played on May 29 at the Khalifa Sports City Arena.