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League champions of Qatar and Turkey will face each other in an event, which will be hosted alternatively by the two countries according to a deal signed between the basketball federations of the two countries earlier this week. |
The Qatar Basketball Federation (QBF) president Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani and Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF) president Turgay Demirel signed an agreement at the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) headquarters, which will also see the two organisations collaborate on “technical, marketing and developmental projects”.
“This is an open agreement. There are a lot of ideas about technical, marketing and developmental projects related to basketball. We’ll see in future which areas can we work together on,” Sheikh Saoud, who is also the secretary general of the QOC, said.
“What we’ve agreed upon is that the league champions of both the countries will play each other by hosting event alternately,” he said, adding that the details about the event will be released in future and that there will also be focus on friendlies between the teams from the two countries.
He added: “We also talked about the School Olympic Program. Turkey also has something similar to it in basketball. In September, we’ll hold the youth basketball festival and we’ll invite TFB to be a part of it.”
Sheikh Saoud also wished Demirel “good luck” for his bid to contest the election for FIBA Europe next month.
Demirel said: “We’re very positive about this agreement and the value it will add to basketball in our countries.”
Demirel highlighted its experience in hosting world championships and the European championships, and said that Turkey would like to host national teams from Qatar. “This summer, we’re going to host a camp and I’d like to invite kids and coaches from Qatar to the camp,” he said. “If I’m elected as the president of FIBA Europe, this will give us a chance to develop the sport in both the continents,” Demirel added.
Also present were TBF International Relations director Emir Touram, QBF secretary general Mohamed Ali Houbash, QBF assistant secretary general Mohamed al-Subaie and QBF executive director Saadoun al-Kuwari.
