Bahrain squad set for Olympic pre-qualifiers

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain have named their final 12-man roster that will be competing in the Asian pre-qualifying tournament for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. The event is scheduled to get underway tomorrow, to be held in Damascus, Syria.

The Bahrainis’ line-up includes Ali Aqeel, Ali Jaber, Ali Hussain, Ali Shukrallah, Alwethaq Ali, Hassan Al Tashani, Maytham Jameel, Mohammed Buallay, Mustafa Hussain, Muzamel Ameer, Sayed Mohammed Hameed and Wayne Chism.

The nationals arrived in the Syrian capital yesterday ahead of the start of action. Bahrain are one of just six teams competing in the event, which is scheduled to continue until 20 August. An original field of eight nations was set to vie for the single spot in the Olympic qualifying tournaments, but South Korea and Chinese-Taipei have withdrawn.

That has left Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, hosts Syria, Indonesia and India in the fray. They will play in a single round-robin, and the team at the top of the standings at the end will march through to the next qualification stage.

The Bahrainis open their campaign tomorrow against Saudi in a game scheduled for a 5.30pm tip-off. They then take on the Kazakhs at 3pm on Sunday, before playing pre-qualifiers hosts Syria at 8pm on Monday.

Following a rest day Tuesday, the nationals resume their battles against Indonesia on Wednesday at 5.30pm, before completing their campaign yesterday against India at 3pm. All game times are Bahrain. Bahrain have been preparing for the pre-qualifiers over the past several weeks under renowned head coach Ricard Casas, who will be in charge of the Bahrainis in official games for the first time this coming week.

The team conducted an overseas training camp in Turkey supervised by Casas, where they played three international friendly matches, defeating both Saudi and Lebanon but losing to Cameroon. This Asian event is one of five pre-qualifiers from all FIBA confederations.