How different will this year's Final 8 be from the last one?

DOHA (Qatar) - Competing for the right to become the best of the best in the region is already an honor for teams partaking in the FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL) Final 8.

But to be vying for an opportunity to fight in the continent's most prestigious club competition, the Basketball Champions League Asia (BCL Asia), makes this upcoming edition of the pan-regional event to be held at the Lusail Sports Hall all the more exciting.

The two teams at the end of the Final 8 will qualify for the tournament formerly known as the FIBA Asia Champions Cup, and having that chance serves as the biggest difference of the competition, which will be held from May 25-June 1, compared from the last season.

Those two FIBA WASL teams will be competing versus six others for the right to become the best in Asia, which will also make them the continent's representative to the FIBA Intercontinental Cup, FIBA's highest club competition, where some of the world's best duke it out.

But it's not only the BCL Asia connection that makes the 2024 Final 8 different from the previous one. There will also be the presence of newly qualified teams, all raring to make a mark.

A team from South Asia will be seeing action as Tamil Nadu of India are set to carry the fight for their region. They earned their ticket after ruling the 73rd Senior National Basketball Championship last December. The previous season, they finished as runners-up finish.

Then there's also Kazma, who reached the Final 8 by finishing third in the recent Gulf League after beating Muharraq. It was a feat so sweet for the Kuwaiti side after bowing to eventual FIBA WASL champions Manama in the sub-zone's Qualification to Semi-Finals last season.

Their participation, furthermore, marks the second straight time that two clubs from the same country will play in the Final 8, with reigning two-time Gulf champions Kuwait Club the other. Last year saw Al Riyadi and Beirut Club proudly wave the Lebanese flag.

Lebanon will be well-represented this year, too. Aside from the Yellow Castle, who are coming in as the defending back-to-back West Asia champions, Sagesse are one of the new teams playing following a third-place finish in the sub-zone league, beating Al Shorta.

Al Riyadi and Sagesse both belong in Group A. That is important because of one major detail - we're going to see these long-time Lebanese basketball rivals write another chapter of the Beirut Derby.

We have seen that in the last West Asia Semis, where the Green Castle dragged the sub-zone champs to a sudden death in their best-of-3 affair but ultimately fell short.

We're set to witness another classic as always between these two teams - but this time in the Final 8, the stakes much higher. It may be a preview of sorts, too, for BCL Asia, as their battle set on the 27th will also be a clash between two of the winningest clubs in Asia's flagship club competition.

FIBA