Qatar Basketball

QATAR NATIONAL BASKETBALL TEAM TO PLAY IN ATLAS CHALLENGE - CHINA

DOHA, QATAR: The Qatar national basketball team has departed to the ancient city of Suzhou China after been invited by the Chinese Basketball Association to attend the third Atlas Basketball Challenge to be played 18 – 23 July 2017.

The final 14-member roster for the Qatar national team was named last Thursday night after two weeks of intense training. Qatar Basketball General Secretary Ali Malki said “Our team is much younger than usual therefore it’s important to expose our players to global meets. Though this tournament does not affect rankings it does provide a platform for international competition and at the completion we can assess our level”. 

Malki continued “We thank the Chinese Basketball Association for their invitation and we are excited about participating with the likes Europe, China and USA”.
Discussing the draw Malki said, “It is a terrible draw but it’s not important. We are not concentrating on that rather it’s a chance for our capped players to develop collectively, find rhythm and cohesion that will ultimately lead to a winning formula before the FWC2019 qualifiers”.

National Head Coach Qusay Khalaf is pleased with his team’s selection and concurs with Malki saying “We have chosen the best players based on performance to travel to China. The Atlas challenge is a good stepping stone and warm up for the FIBA Asia Cup in Lebanon next month and the WC qualifiers in November”.

“Although the competition is in its infancy it provides a high level of playing standards. My team is very youthful but they have great spirit and I like that in them. They will be exposed to NBA athletes from the best in the world including USA, Australia, China and Europe and hopefully the boys can bring home much experience” Khalaf said.

Qatar has drawn group B of the challenge along with Australia, Lithuania and USA. While FWC2019 host China is in group A alongside Belarus, Ukraine and Iran.
The July championship comprises of eight teams –played over 6 days – at shared venues the Suzhou Sports Center and the Dushu Lake Arena. Qatar will meet Lithuania in their first match (18) followed by USA (19) and Australia (on 20).

Ahmad Al Darwish, Nasser Al Rayes, Mohammed Youssuf, Mohamed Erfan Saeed, Mansour Elhadary, Abdulraham Al Muftah, Mohamed Abdelazziz, Abdullah Matalkeh, Mohammed Hassan Mohammed, Abdulrahman Abdelhaleem, Abdulrahman Saad, Sammy Monroe, Omar Salem, Raslan Al Abdulla, Head coach Qusay Hatem Khalaf and Assistant Coach Yasser Abdelwahab, team manager Khalid Sulaiman.