Bahrain’s Manama Club take to the hardwood tonight in the title-deciding game of their best-of-three Gulf sub-zone championship series against Kuwait Club in the 2023-24 FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL).
The winner-take-all affair is scheduled for an 8pm tip-off and it will be played at Khalifa Sports City Arena in Isa Town.
Manama forced the rubber match after narrowly winning game two last week 77-73, getting back at the Kuwaitis who took the opening clash 86-74.
Their head-to-head for this year’s Gulf sub-zone crown is the third time they are squaring off with Kuwait in a championship series in the WASL’s two editions thus far.
Last year, when they were crowned as the first-ever overall FIBA WASL champions, Manama had earlier in the tournament lost to Kuwait in the Gulf sub-zone final in two games. They made up for it, however, by eventually winning the overall title in the FIBA WASL Final Eight, where they also faced Kuwait in a single game clash.
Tonight, Manama are set to rely heavily on their foreign trio of Sir’Dominic Pointer, Travin Thibodeaux and Devin Ebanks. Their Bahraini contingent of Mohammed Ameer, Ahmed Salman, Ali Hussain, Ali Jaber, Hussain Shaker, and others will also be looking to step up for the side coached by Linos Gavriel.
The Cypriot-Greek tactician commented prior to the start of the series: “Being rivals with Kuwait Club puts us in a situation to feel a sense of urgency, since we know how good of a team they are.
“When you know that you’re facing a bigger team, a physical team, a well-coached team, a team that is the absolute favourite to win all titles every time in a competition they compete in, it puts you in a situation to try more, right? Even the players know that.”
Kuwait, coached by Peter Schomers, will be spearheaded by the likes of Marcus Anthony Georges-Hunt, Cody Lalanne, Mohammad Hasan, and Hamad Hasan. The Kuwaitis have signed new import Joseph Young, who has replaced the injured Tony Carr.
Regardless of the result of tonight’s game, Manama have already booked their ticket to this season’s FIBA WASL Final Eight. They have made it through along with Kuwait and Kazma, who are also a Kuwaiti side.
The trio are representatives of the Gulf sub-zone, and will be joined in the FIBA WASL Final Eight by the best trio from the WASL West Asia sub-zone, along with the champion teams from South Asia and Central Asia. There, the teams will all vie for the right to become the overall champions in the FIBA WASL’s second campaign.
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