BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN have named an initial 15-player senior men’s basketball national team that will be beginning their preparations for the fourth GCC Games, set to take place next month in Doha, Qatar.
The roster was announced by the Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA) and it features a number of the kingdom’s experienced internationals, including Ahmed Salman, Ahmed Alderazi, Mohammed Buallay, Ali Jaber, Ahmed Bindayneh, Mahmood Abbas Isa, Mohammed Juma’a, and Ali Hussain.
It is also composed of a number of fresh faces, such as Emran Ashkanani, Nader Ali, Hassan Ghareeb, Mohammed Ghazi, Mohammed Sami, Nader Shaker, and Hassan Fahad.
The team, however, is missing some of Bahrain’s biggest names in the game, such as Mustafa Hussain, Muzamil Ameer, Wayne Chism, Maitham Jameel, Hesham Sarhan, and Mohammed Ameer, who is currently injured. It is unknown if any of them will be joining the kingdom’s squad at a later stage.
Basketball is one of 19 sports that are a part of the fourth GCC Games’ programme, taking place May 11 to 22 in the Qatari capital.
There is also 3x3 basketball, along with athletics, volleyball, handball, table tennis, squash, padel, fencing, boxing, taekwondo, karate, swimming, billiards, snooker, shooting, archery, equestrian, and bowling.
The draw for the men’s basketball tournament has yet to be conducted by the GCC Games’ organising committee.
The GCC Games will be the maiden competition for Bahrain’s senior men’s squad in a busy 2026. It will also be their first time hitting the hardwood since the 26th Arab Men’s Basketball Championship, hosted by the kingdom in July and August of last year.
According to the BBA, they will also be playing in the first round of pre-qualifiers for the Fiba Asia Cup 2029, to be held in Dubai, the UAE, from August 24 to September 1. The nationals will then go up against the continent’s best in the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4; and then, if qualified, will compete in the second round of Fiba Asia Cup 2029 pre-qualifiers, scheduled from November 23 to December 1 at a yet-to-be-determined host venue.
The Bahrainis, coached by Greek tactician Georgios Vovoras, are one of 12 West Asian teams that will play in the opening stage of the pre-qualifiers. There are also seven squads from East Asia.
Bahrain are in Group A along with divisional hosts the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, and Nepal. Group B, to be hosted by Atyrau, Kazakhstsan, features the home side Kazakhs, Palestine, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Kyrgyzstan. Group C, to be held in Seremban, Malaysia, features Indonesia, Hong Kong, and hosts Malaysia; while Group D will be held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, which will feature Thailand, Vietnam, Fiji, and the host Mongolians.
Only the top three squads from each pool following a single round-robin will advance to the second round of pre-qualification. That 12-nation field will then be divided into two groups of six, and after another round-robin, the top four teams in each will make it through to the Fiba Asia Cup 2029 qualifiers, which will feature a total of 24 teams. They will be vying for only 16 berths in the final tournament in 2029.
Games in these qualifiers will be played over three windows in November of 2027, and in February and November of 2028.
Bahrain have qualified for nine of the past editions of the Fiba Asia Cup, which has been played 31 times. The national team’s last participation was in 2022, when it was held in Jakarta, Indonesia, where they ranked 13th overall amongst the 16 participating countries.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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