KUWAIT CITY (Kuwait) - The 2024/25 season of the FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL) commenced on Monday night, marking the start of yet another high-level, exciting competition among the top ball clubs in the region.
Now in its third season, the pan-regional contest began with Gulf League action, with Kuwait Club opening their bid of winning the Sub-Zone League for the third time in as many editions following an 88-77 victory over the Al Ahli Club of Bahrain at the Shaikh Saad Alabdullah Sport Hall Complex.
Jakarr Sampson and Briante Weber showed the way with 19 points apiece, while Augustine Rubit and Masaed Aloutaibi finished with 17 and 13 points, respectively as the perennial contenders have now gone 3-0 in their WASL openers.
Another WASL-Gulf League matchup will take place on Tuesday night as Shabab Al Ahli host the comebacking Al Bashaer in Dubai to cap off the Opening Week.
It is going to be a busy season from there, especially when the much-awaited WASL-West Asia League starts on December 4 featuring last season's runners-up Sagesse and newcomer Tabiat Basketball duking it out in the latter's home floor in Iran.
A total of 14 teams are taking part this season - 8 in the Gulf League, and 6 in the West Asia League. The top teams from each group at the end of the double round-robin Group Phase will earn outright berths to the best-of-3 Semi-Finals.
The second and third-ranked ball clubs, meanwhile, will have to go through the cross-over Qualification to Semi-Finals, which is also a best-of-3.
The top 3 teams from both West Asia and Gulf Leagues will qualify for the FIBA WASL Final 8, where they will be joined by the champions of South and Central Asia.
The champion by the conclusion of the league's culminating event will then earn a ticket to the annual Basketball Champions League Asia, where teams will vie for the right to represent Asia in the prestigious FIBA Intercontinental Cup.
FIBA