KUWAIT CITY, July 28: The Asian U-18 Basketball Cup qualifiers for the Gulf region begin this evening, hosted by Kuwait until next Friday. Kuwait starts its journey at 7:30 pm against Bahrain, following the Saudi team's match against Oman at 5:00 pm. Five Gulf teams compete in the qualifiers: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait. The top two teams from these qualifiers will advance to the Asian finals in Amman, Jordan, from September 2 to 10.

All participating teams trained at the Federation Hall in the evening, while the morning was reserved for a photo session supervised by the Asian Federation. The Gulf teams have thoroughly prepared for the competition with external camps in various European countries. Kuwait and Qatar trained in Turkey, the Saudi team in Bosnia, and Bahrain held its camp in Serbia.

Kuwait and Bahrain game is expected to be highly competitive due to the similar technical levels of both teams. Kuwait aims to win its opening game to set the stage for qualification to the Asian Cup. However, the match will be challenging given the strong technical and physical capabilities of Bahrain.

The Blues, coached by Bahraini Salman Ramadan, will rely on key players like Adel Al-Saeed, Talal Fahd, and brothers Hamza and Adam Asad. In the second match, the Saudi team appears to have an advantage over Oman due to a technical disparity between the teams.

Thamer Al-Shanfa, Secretary General of the Federation and Tournament Director, confirmed the readiness of the working committees for the tournament's launch. He ensured all preparations related to the tournament hall at Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Complex for Indoor Halls were complete and all necessary arrangements for the participating delegations were in place to create the best possible environment for the tournament.

Al-Shanfa welcomed all delegations from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and emphasized that all working committees are ready for today's launch. He anticipated the tournament would showcase high technical standards due to the balanced levels of the participating teams, expressing hope that our youth team would perform excellently and succeed in reaching the Asian finals.