Kuwait, the defending champion, achieved a well-deserved victory over Al Muharraq of Bahrain with a score of 61/82 in its first appearance in the 35th Arab Clubs Basketball Championship currently taking place in Doha. Meanwhile, Al Ahly of Egypt, the runner-up, secured its second victory against Al Ittihad of Libya, winning 55/65, thus taking the lead in the tough Group D, awaiting the final match against Beirut to determine the fate of this group.
On the second day's other matches, Al Ittihad of Alexandria, Al Najaf of Iraq, the Algerian Union, and Al Seeb of Oman all claimed victories.
In Group A, Kuwait began its title defense with a significant victory over Al Muharraq, raising its flag of challenge. Notably, Al Muharraq did not capitalize on its strong performance in the first quarter, which ended in a tie at 20/20, but fell behind in the middle of the second quarter, which ended 13/18 in favor of the defending champion, who maintained its lead in the third quarter 15/18, and the final quarter 13/26.
In Group B, Al Ittihad of Alexandria, holder of the most titles, defeated the Algerian Union 53/89 in its first appearance under new head coach Ahmed Omar. The hosts found no difficulty in asserting their dominance over the four quarters, which concluded as follows: 11/16, 5/27, 20/23, and 17/23.
In the same group, Al Seeb of Oman surprised Al Ahli of Qatar, handing them their second defeat with a score of 58/75. The quarter results were: 16/17, 19/17, 8/23, and 15/18.
In Group C, the Moroccan team, Salé, triumphed over the Yemeni team, Al Wahda, with a score of 64/96. The quarter results were: 15/20, 20/19, 8/26, and 21/28.
In Group D, Al Ahly of Egypt raised its points to four after winning against Al Ittihad of Libya 55/65, securing top position. Al Ahly led in the first quarter 9/20, tied in the second quarter 15/15, saw the Libyan team advance in the third quarter 12/19, and then Al Ahly won the final quarter 12/18.
In the same group, Al Najaf of Iraq defeated Maghreb Tanger of Morocco 74/95 with quarter scores of 19/22, 18/22, 14/27, and 21/24.
Today, four matches will be played, most notably the match between Al Ittihad of Alexandria and Dynamo Beirut at 4 PM Qatar time. At the same time at the Al Rayyan hall, Al Fateh of Saudi Arabia will meet Al Wahda of Sana'a, while at 6:30 PM, the Algerian Union will face Al Ahli of Qatar at the Al Gharafa hall, and Salé of Morocco will play Al Qadsia of Kuwait at the Al Rayyan hall.
