Oman’s representative, Al Bashayer, missed a victory recently against UAE’s Shabab Al Ahli as they suffered a 71-69 loss in the opener of the West Asia Super League (WASL) for basketball in Group A.
At the main indoor hall of the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, both teams showed top game as the first and second quarter ended in favour of the visitors at 21-18 and 25-8 respectively. In the following quarters, Al Bashayer players pressed hard to return into the match and they managed to lead in the third and fourth sets at 24-13 and 19-12. The overall score in all the four sets were for UAE’s Shabab Al Ahli with two points gap only at 71-69.
In the same group, Saudi’s Al Hilal club defeated Kuwait’s Al Khadhma club 96-92 in the match that was held in Riyadh city in Saudi Arabia. Oman’s Al Bashayer team are gearing up to meet Saudi’s Al Hilal club on Monday in the latter’s home in Riyadh city.
WASL event is a new dynamic competition for clubs in the West Asia and Gulf regions. The sub-zone group phases will be played in home and away format and will qualify six teams from each sub-zone to the WASL Final 8, where they will be joined by the domestic league champions of South Asia and Central Asia.
The qualifiers will conclude in May 2023 and then the six qualified teams will join the finals of WASL which is ranked as one of the top competitions of clubs under FIBA.
Al Bashayer, coached under Egyptian coach Mahmood Azmi, trained very hard during the past days . All the squad members attended in the training sessions and the coaching staff shaped the players readiness for this crucial assignment. The team players will eye on registering a positive result in the next match against Al Hilal after their top show in the inaugural match.
Oman’s Al Bashayer squad: Mahmood al Souli, Hadid bait Bakhit, Tamim al Riyami, Ahmed al Halhali, Qasim al Qusaimi, Abdul Rahman al Sinani, Ayman al Mahrami, Rasheed al Zuhaibi, Nooh al Mahrouqi, Said al Saadi, Bassam al Busaidy, Jassim al Sulaimani, Barcis Arun, Milid Lakir and Anthoni Rashad.
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