Tomorrow, Wednesday, the Arab Clubs Championship for Basketball Men will start in Kuwait in its thirty-fourth edition, amid expectations of an expansion of the competition for the title, unlike the situation in recent years, in which the nominated teams were known in advance, such as Al-Ittihad of Alexandria, the leader of this tournament and the record holder (7) times. He was succeeded by Al-Riyadi (5) times, Al-Ahly of Egypt, the defending champion, Beirut, Lebanon, the competitor of Al-Ittihad of Alexandria in the 31st and 32nd editions, and finally Kuwait, the Kuwaiti runner-up of the last championship in Alexandria, the host of the current edition, who is eager to change the previous equation and take advantage of all the new conditions, whether the land factor, public support, or the use of new professionals with the aim of snatching the precious title.
16 teams are participating in the tournament distributed in four groups. The first group includes Kuwait, Al-Ittihad of Alexandria, Al-Ahly of Aleppo- Syria, and Al-Ahly Benghazi- Libya. The second group which is strong includes the defeating champion A-Ahly of Egypt, Al-Riyadi of Lebanon, The Gharafa of Qatar and Al-Minaa from Yamen, the third group includes Al-Ahly of Bahrain, Al-Bashaer from Oman, Kazma from Kuwait and Al-Sadd of Qatar and the fourth group includes Al-Jahra, the Kuwaiti, the Lebanese Beirut, the Algerian Wedad Boufarik, and the Iraqi Degla.
The opening round will witness six matches distributed to the Al-Ittihad and Kuwait Club halls. In the first, Al-Ahly of Egypt will start the journey to defend its title in front of Al-Minaa at 15:00 Kuwait time, followed by Al-Ittihad of Alexandria and Al-Ahly of Aleppo, Syria at 17:00, then the opening ceremony, and immediately after it, the host club will meet Al-Ahly Benghazi, and at the Kuwait Hall. The Bahraini Al-Ahly and the Qatari Al-Sadd will meet, starting at 15:00, followed by Al-Bashaer and Kazma, then Al-Jahra and Degla. The preliminary round will continue until next Saturday, provided that the teams get a rest the next day, then the second-round games will start from Monday, October 10, followed by the quarter-final games on Wednesday. The semi-finals are on Friday and the finals are on Saturday
Al Karkawi expects an exceptional tournament
For his part, Major General Ismail Al-Karkawi, President of the Arab and UAE Basketball Federations, expected that the current version would be exceptional, hoping that it would reflect the remarkable development witnessed by Arab basketball year after year, wishing all success to all teams and the organizing committee, stressing that all efforts of the Arab Federation would be harnessed for the success of the tournament.
العربية