The Lebanese team "Beirut" has been crowned the champion of the 35th edition of the Arab Basketball Clubs Championship after defeating the Moroccan team Salé with a score of 86/75 in the final match held this evening at the Al-Gharafa Sports Hall in Qatar. Despite the Lebanese team's superiority throughout the game, the Moroccan team proved to be a strong competitor, especially in the third and fourth quarters, managing to reduce a 17-point deficit at the end of the second quarter to just 9 points in the final minutes. However, the experience of the Beirut quartet, captain Ali Haidar, playmaker Ali Mehzar, MVP Sergio Drewish, and the towering Julian Gamble, secured the victory for the Lebanese team.
Beirut led the first two quarters with scores of 25/15 and 17/10, while Salé won the second quarter 27/21. The fourth quarter ended in a tie at 23/23. Ramon, Salé's professional player, scored the highest points with 32, followed by Sergio Drewish from Beirut with 24 points and his teammate Julian Campbell with 18 points. Beirut scored 30 points from inside the paint compared to 20 for the Moroccan team and was also superior in rebounds with a total of 44 (32 defensive) against Salé's 37 (21 defensive). Beirut also excelled in assists with a ratio of 20 to 13, while Salé was better in three-point shots, making 9 to Beirut's 6.
### Bronze for Kuwait
In the third and fourth place match, the previous edition’s champion Kuwait defeated Egyptian champions Ahly with a score of 87/84, securing the bronze medal.
Following the final match, Sheikh Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, Major General Ismail Al-Qargawi, president of the Arab and UAE basketball federations, and Nadim Hakim, vice president of the Arab federation and president of Beirut Club, presented gold medals to the players of Beirut and the management and coaching staff. Al-Qargawi also handed the championship trophy to captain Ali Haidar and took the opportunity to honor the international referees Rabeh Najim from Lebanon and Ahmed Shweiri from Iraq for their performance in the recent World Cup finals. Meanwhile, Dr. Magdy Abu Freikha, vice president of the Arab federation and president of the Egyptian federation, and Abdulrahman Al-Masaad, vice president of the Arab federation, presented silver medals to the Salé team, and Brigadier General Abdullah Shalabi, secretary-general of the Arab federation, honored the tournament referees.
### Stars of the Tournament
In terms of outstanding players, Beirut's Sergio Drewish won the Best Player award, his teammate Jan Mark was the top three-point shooter, and Salé's Agbo was the top scorer of the tournament.
