Dubai: Hosts the UAE will get their campaign under way against Oman on the opening day of the Sixth Fazza International Wheelchair Basketball - IWBF West Asian Championship on Saturday.
The tournament will open with the match between Iraq and Jordan at 9am followed by the UAE-Oman encounter at 11am. In the remaining two matches on the opening day, Kuwait will take on Syria at 1pm and Saudi Arabia will clash with Palestine at 3 pm.
All matches will be played at the Al Ahli Club’s indoor hall, with the top three teams qualifying for the 2014 Asian Paralympic Games to be held in Incheon, South Korea, in October.
The event is also being held as the IWBF West Asian Championship for this year and is being organised by the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Heritage Centre and the Dubai Club for the Disabled under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman, Dubai Sports Council.
More than 170 players and officials from eight participating countries are involved in the event. The eight teams have been divided into two groups, with the round-robin matches being followed by the knock-out semi-finals and final.
The seven teams apart from the UAE are Oman, Kuwait, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. All the foreign teams have arrived in the UAE for the competition.
Saturday’s opening ceremony will be attended by Maureen Orchard, President, IWBF, and Peter Dae Young Kang, General Secretary, IWBF Oceania.
