NATIONAL champions Muharraq are set to represent Bahrain at this year’s Fiba Asia Champions Cup.
The prestigious annual basketball tournament, organised by Fiba Asia, is scheduled to be held between September 24 and 29 in Bangkok, Thailand.
It will feature the continent’s title-winning teams in the 2018-2019 season from eight different countries.
Aside from Muharraq, also competing are the Guangdong Southern Tigers from China, Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus from South Korea, Alvark Tokyo from Japan, Al Riyadi Beirut from Lebanon, Fubon Braves from Chinese Taipei, Palayesh Naft Abadan from Iran and Hi-Tech Bangkok City from Thailand.
The field of eight have been divided into two groups for the first round.
Muharraq have been pooled with Naft Abadan, Hi-Tech and the Fubon Braves in Group ‘A’, while Group ‘B’ includes Alvark, Hyundai Mobis, Al Riyadi and Guangdong.
The groupings were announced yesterday by Fiba Asia.
Campaign
After a single round-robin, the top two teams move on to the knockout semi-finals, with the winners of those advancing to the gold medal game.
All teams will be in action on the first three days of the competition. Muharraq are scheduled to open their campaign against Naft Abadan. The full schedule of the tournament will be released soon, according to organisers.
Muharraq have one of the most talented line-ups in all of Bahrain, with the likes of Bader Abdulla Malabes, Ahmed Alderazi, Mohammed Buallay, Mohammed Alderazi, Ali Shukrallah, Sayed Kadhem Majed, Sayed Mohammed Hameed, Ali Abbas and Ali Asghar, amongst their Bahraini contingent.
They will be able to field two foreign professional players in the Champions Cup. Six-foot, 11-inch American Will Artino is their current import in the Bahrain league, while their other professional player is still to be confirmed.
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