AMMAN — The 9th Jordan Basketball Cup has tipped off with seven teams competing as teams and fans gear up for the upcoming Premier Basketball League.
As the knockout event got off to a start, Kufr Youba stunned veterans Orthodoxi 72-63 while Wihdat beat Ashrafieh 85-45.
Titleholders Applied Science University (ASU) will now play Kufr Youba in Friday’s semis while Wihdat await the winner of Wednesday’s Riyadi vs. Jalil match. The final is set for January 31.
Last year, ASU beat Riyadi in the final while Orthodoxi were third and Arena fourth.
The tournament is a good warm up for teams ahead of the Premier League, especially in light of recent player transfers which have seen Fadel Najjar, Nidal Sharif, Khaldoun Abu Ruqaya and Malek Khashan move to Kufr Youba, and scored the first surprise of the season. Orthodoxi’s coach Imad Saeed has his team line-up boosted with veterans Zeid Alkhas and Enver Soubzoukov joining mostly younger players as Wihdat have former veteran Naser Alawneh and are led by coach Yousef Abu Bakr.
Riyadi’s line-up has some new transfers like former Orthodoxi and six-time champ Zain star Ayman Du’eys and former Orthodoxi point guard Fadi Saqqa, who also played for Zain. They join Issa Kamel, Ali Jamal and others. Seif Amer, who is recuperating from surgery, will be out for the season.
ASU, who were third at the 24th Arab Clubs Basketball Championship last year, have Abdullah Abu Qoura, Islam Abbas, Wisam Sous, Mahmoud Abdeen and Mousa Awadi leading the line-up.
After nearly a year with no official competitions in 2010 when the Jordan Basketball Federation was suspended and Zain disbanded their team, the sport saw a new champ emerge after only four teams played in the league — Riyadi, Orthodoxi, Wihdat and ASU.
Last season saw things go back to normal, but observers pointed out to a regression that negatively affected competitive readiness of all teams. Optimists hope players and fans will return to the courts and help bring the zeal of competition to Jordan’s second most popular sport.
Riyadi beat then league champs Orthodoxi to win the inaugural Jordan Cup in 2002 following which Zain (formerly Fastlink) won the title for four consecutive seasons. Orthodoxi snatched the title again before Zain won it in 2009 and ASU in 2010/11.
Riyadi move to WABA quarters
Meanwhile, Riyadi-Aramex have qualified to the quarters of the 15th West Asian Clubs Basketball Championship after finishing fourth in Group A played in Beirut. Riyadi will now host the Group B leader in Amman in the first match of the quarters set for February 15-22.
Riyadi-Aramex lost 85-55 to Iran’s Petroshimi, 87-71 to Iran’s Zob Ahan, 111-78 to Lebanon’s Riyadi before they beat Yemen’s Tilal, 104-52. Lebanon’s Riyadi lead the group with an unbeaten run.
Group B tip off January 25 with ASU playing Lebanon’s Champville and Mutahhed, Iran’s Mahram and Iraq’s Duhok.
Four teams from each group move to the home-and-away quarter-finals in February, before the best-of-three contest the semis and then the best-of-five finals.
The West Asian qualifiers, organised by the West Asian Basketball Association (WABA), stipulates that the top four teams, provided they represent different countries, qualify to the Asian Basketball Confederation’s Champions Cup. Zain were the only Jordanian team to win the Asian title in 2006.
The WABA tourney started in 1998 and Orthodoxi were the only Jordanian team to win the title in 1999.
