Nizwa clinch basketball league title

Muscat, March 11 - Nizwa club were crowned champions of the top division basketball league for the 2019-2020 season. The Al Dakhiliyah team had ensured the title before their concluding game against Seeb which they won 60-46 late on Tuesday at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex. Ahli Sidab came in the third place. In the under-14 league, Seeb lifted the trophy. Ahli Sidab finished runners-up while Al Mudhaibi team were third. In the last match, Nizwa dominated all the quarters against Seeb. The first quarter set ended for Nizwa at 11-5 as Said al Sadi and Ahmed al Halhali scored most of the points. Seeb players tried their best in the second quarter to reduce the gap but Usama al Riyami and his teammates kept their lead at 26-24. The league champions showed more power in the third and fourth quarter to take comfortable lead and wrapped up the match at 60-46 to clinch the title. The final match was held under the auspices of Shaikh Saif bin Hilal al Hosni, Vice-Chairman of the Oman Olympic Committee, in the presence of Dr Farid Khamis al Zadjali, Chairman of Oman Basketball Association, dignitaries and top officials. The chief guest distributed the awards and medals to the top winners as Nizwa players received the gold medals while Seeb players got silver medals. The Ahli Sidab players received bronze medals. Among the individual awards, Usama al Riyami from Nizwa was named as the best playmaker in the league while Hassan al Faraji from Ahli Sidab became the best centre player. Nizwa’s Brain Alexander received the top scorer award while Nouh al Amri from Seeb got the three points award. In February, Oman Basketball Association (OBA) had named Bosnia’s Mladen Ostojic as new head coach of the national basketball teams. Ostojic attended many matches in the league before deciding on the probables for the upcoming camps for the national teams.