Al-Ahly of Egypt began the journey of defending its title with an exciting and well-deserved victory over the ancient Lebanese Al-Riyadi 88/71 at the end of the preliminary round of the 34th Arab Clubs Basketball Championship, which is currently being held in Kuwait. Al-Riyadi and the runner-up play with Al-Ahly Benghazi, Libya, the third in Group A. This public summit proved the good performance of the two teams compared to the levels presented by other teams in this round, and it was indeed more like an early final. Despite Al-Riyadi’s progress in the first quarter 20/18, Al-Ahly knew how to deal with The rest of the periods, both from outside the arc and inside the area, until he succeeded in disengaging between him and his opponent, starting from the middle of the third quarter, which witnessed a tie between the two teams 55/55, after the two sides took turns to score, advance, and then draw, until the last word was for the title holder, who succeeded at the beginning of the fourth quarter of the match. He raised the difference to 17 points as a result of the defensive and offensive style in which he succeeded with distinction, helped by the guidance of his Spanish coach George, former Barcelona assistant coach and maker of recent tournaments with Zamalek. And Al-Ahly, as well as the brilliance of the professional player Walter, the star of the first match and its scorer with 26 points. Despite the distinguished level that Al-Riyadi presented in two and a half periods, he was unable to keep up with Al-Ahly in the decisive times, even on the level of physical fitness that Al-Riyadi paid for in the second half of the match as a result of the great effort that the players did it in the first half, while Al-Ahly
The results of the periods were as follows:
18/20- 22/28 - 16/25- 13/17
In terms of numbers, it showed the superiority of Al-Ahly, as it scored 31 points from inside the area, compared to 26 for Al-Riyadi, and 8 three-pointers from 24 attempts from outside the arc, compared to 4 for the Al-Riyadi from 24 attempts, and 18 free throws from 25 against 15 throws from 23 and 44 rebounds, including 35 in defense against 44 from 26 are in offense.
In the fourth group, Beirut, the Lebanese, overcame the Kuwaiti Al-Jahra, supported by the Lebanese player Wael Araji, the best player in Asia, by winning 88/84 after a strong and exciting match. The results of the periods were as follows: 24/26, 14/21, 12/19 and 34/22 Al-Jahraa scored 23 points, one point ahead of Beirut captain Elias Ibrahim, while Wael Araqji scored 14 points.
With this victory, Beirut topped the group, to meet the Qatari Al-Sadd, fourth in Group C, in the round of 16
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