Basketball: Partizan cagers eye Dubai junior honours

Ahmed Saleh of the Dubai Sports Council and Salem Al Mutawa, secretary general of the UAE Basketball Association.

Serbia's Partizan will field a top-notch side for the second Dubai International Junior Basketball Championships, and they look the pre-event favourites when the event gets going at the American University of Dubai (AUD) campus off Shaikh Zayed Road from August 27 to September 2.
The Balkan under 17 side will head Group B where Al Riyadi Club from Jordan, and the UAE's Wasl Club and Al Shabab Club, will be striving hard to match up to the known skills of the European giants.
German outfit Bayern Munich have to handle in their campaign trail the strong Al Ahly squad from Egypt and the UAE's Al Nasr Club and Al Ahli in Group A before they can entertain ideas of progressing to the semifinal.
The under 17 championship sees the opener between Bayern and Dubai's Al Ahli, first tap 4pm in Group A on Saturday while the Group B opener between Partizan and Al Shabab is scheduled for a 5.30pm start on the same court. Matches go on till close to 10pm every day. The final is slotted for a 4.30 start on September 2 after the semis a day earlier.
The event was announced officially at a media conference at the Dubai Sports Council headquarters in Dubai Design District, Thursday.
"Getting together such youth programmes is a priority of the Dubai Sports Council. The second edition this year will again be a focal point where the youngsters, clubs and schools here can get an idea of the level of the game at the international level," said Ahmed Saleh of the Dubai Sports Council.
"The venue is an ideal location for this purpose where there is a strong basketball tradition in the AUD campus. Ours is a broad spectrum approach to sports where as many different kinds of disciplines are brought to Dubai at the grassroot and age group levels for exposure to the next generation. Unfortunately we could not manage to rope in Barcelona again as they have other commitments at this time of the year."
"The UAE national team is always looking forward to such youth tournaments so that our developmental sides are better groomed. The performances of our youth side in Jeddah recently is a lesson for us to learn from our mistakes. Height and physical attributes are not much in our favour in this sport but we have good skills and a strong foundation in the country," said Salem Al Mutawa, secretary general of the UAE Basketball Association.
moni@khaleejtimes.com