Doha, Qatar: Team Qatar remained in contention for top spot of West Asia at the 2023 FIBA 3x3 U-23 Nations League Doha, seeking a ticket to the final stage, despite Saudi Arabia snatching a surprise win over the hosts in Stop 2 of the six-leg series in Doha, yesterday.
Qatar, who had topped the table in Stop 1 on Tuesday, yesterday suffered a shock 14-22 defeat against Saudi team at Al Gharafa Indoor Court, before they bounced back with two impressive wins to finish second.
The Qatar men’s team which comprised of Mohammed Hashim “Hash Jr” Abbasher, Mubarak Jama, Ahmad Saeid Mohamad and Omar Mohamed Saad, beat Turkmenistan 21-16 before recording a 19-15 win over Jordan in their last game of the second Stop.
Unlike in the first stop, where Qatar overwhelmingly dominated over rest of the competing teams, Stop 2 saw three of the competing teams winning two games each.
Following the win over hosts, Saudi Arabia lost to Jordan 19-18 in overtime, and then went on to beat Turkmenistan 19-18 in a thriller. They topped the Stop 2 points table with 59 points, while Qatar came second with 54.
Jordan also won two games yesterday, defeating Turkmenistan 14-13 and Saudis before losing to Qatar in the final Men’s game yesterday.
Qatar’s star player in Stop 1, Hash Jr once again put up impressive performances and emerged on top of the list of highest point-scorers with 26 points.
Turkmenistan’s Yevgeniy Nazipov was second with 21 points, while two Saudi Arabians Saad Sultan Al Subaiei and Rayan Ali Alhamed scored 20 points apiece.
Meanwhile, on the women’s side, Qatar failed to impress once again as they lost all three of their games - against Saudi Arabia (9-13), Turkmenistan (8-22) and Jordan (3-21).
The teams will engage in six matches against each other in Doha, with the team with the highest number of points scored will emerge as the winner of the conference and secure their ticket to the final stage.
The third Stop of the series will take place today.
