The Qatar Basketball Federation (QBF) announced the details of the U16 Asian Championship, the competitions of which will begin Sunday at Al Gharafa Club Hall and continue until September 24 with the participation of 16 teams.
The tournament’s details were announced during a press conference held by QBF on Saturday and attended by QBF President Mohammed Saad Al Mughaiseeb, Secretary-General of Asian Basketball Federation Hagop Kagerian, and QBF Secretary-General Saadoun Sabah Al Kuwari.
Al Mughaiseeb welcomed all the teams participating in the U16 Asian Championship, which Qatar is hosting for the second time in a row, pointing out that the QBF seeks to organize many tournaments for age groups in the coming years, especially since they are the stars of the future and they are the category that needs support.
He explained that the QBF continues its efforts in hosting and organizing international tournaments of the International and Asian federations in order to implement its plans to attract and develop age groups and provide all opportunities that contribute to refining their talents.
The QBF President considered hosting the U16 Asian Championship this year as a new step to implement the federation’s strategic goals set by the Qatar Olympic Committee, noting that the successes achieved by the federation during the past period put it in front of a great challenge of continuing to perform at the same pace.
Secretary-General of Asian Basketball Federation Hagop Kagerian praised the efforts made by the QBF to host this edition of the tournament, noting the importance of holding continental championships for these age groups as it develops them and give them more international experience in light of their interaction with their counterparts from various countries.
During the press conference, Hagop said that the State of Qatar managed to impose itself and its name on Asian basketball recently, excelled in hosting the junior championship during the last edition and is capable of organizing a distinguished edition this year.
Regarding cooperation with the QBF, which is preparing to host the 2027 World Cup, Hagop stressed that the Asian federation will work hard from now on to cooperate with its Qatari counterpart and support it in all matters that help it organize an exceptional version of the world championship.
For his part, QBF Secretary-General Saadoun Sabah Al Kuwari stressed the readiness of the Qatar national team to compete in the tournament, pointing out that the Qatar group includes strong teams with a distinguished history in the game, namely Iran, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
He said that the Qatari team will strive to present high technical levels during the tournament and compete for the title, pointing out that the Qatari basketball teams were accustomed to bring achievements in various competitions. He pointed out that the team prepared well for the tournament as it participated in an external camp in Bosnia, and then participated in the Gulf Championship and won the title at the expense of the Saudi team, hoping that it would perform at good levels and claim the Asian championship title.
Source: Qatar News Agency