Muscat, Dec 27
Oman ‘s Al Bashayer suffered their second successive defeat against Saudi’s Al Hilal club 86-54 on Monday night in Riyadh city for the second round matches of the West Asia Super League (WASL) for basketball in Group A. The triumph meant, Saudi’s representative topped the group with full mark after their opening victory against Kuwait’s Kazma club 96-92 in the previous week.
Al Bashayer were very close to a win in the opener against Shabab Al Ahli but the UAE club ended the game in a 71-69 win at the main indoor hall of the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex. In the same group, UAE’s Shabab Al Ahli managed to grab their second straight win against Kuwait’s Kazma 91-86 after a tight match. The upcoming match between Saudi’s Al Hilal and UAE’s Shabab Al Ahli will deicide the group toppers.
Against Al Bashayer, hosts Al Hilal dominated the match from the beginning as they finished the first quarter at 22-14. In the following set, Klient Shiman and Mohammed al Suwalim pressed hard to end the quarter at 42-32 with a difference of 10 points. The gap extended in the forthcoming quarter after Al Bashayer players’ lack of focus to 23 points before Saudi’s club ended the match with 32 points gap at 86-54.
Al Bashayer will conclude their campaign in WASL on Tuesday as they will meet Kuwait’s Kazma in the latter’s home in Kuwait city.
It is the first participation for Omani clubs in WASL event which is considered as 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.
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