Qatar teams start with wins in basketball

Qatari women made a winning start to their basketball campaign at the Arab Games Doha 2011 when they overcame a stiff challenge from Kuwait in their opening Group A match yesterday.Warda Mohamed was the star of the match as she scored 32 points to help Qatar post a 52-46 victory in the five-team women’s group which also includes Lebanon, Somalia and Jordan.Qatar’s men later had an easy outing against Palestine, winning 76-58.Warda displayed amazing touch and anticipation at the Gharafa Stadium as she outpaced the Kuwaitis to literally score at will. Her all-round display – she had a three-pointer and nine rebounds – helped Qatar cut a three-point deficit midway through the final quarter and eventually overtake their rivals.She had 14 field goals from 33 attempts for a conversion rate of 42.4% and was ably supported by Hayat Musa with seven points.For the Kuwaitis, Mashael al-Marzouk was the top-scorer with 19, followed by Leila Behbehani with 16 and Fatemah al-Hamad with eight.A few hours later, the men’s team also sounded a warning to their rivals, with Targuy al-Dam’s 19 points proving crucial. Erfan Ali with 12 and Yaseen Ismail with 10 also excelled for Qatar.For Palestine, Jamal Abu Shamla and Nicola Fadayel scored 14 points each.

Today’s fixtures:WomenKuwait vs Lebanon 1pmSomalia vs Egypt 3pmMenKuwait vs Saudi Arabia   5.30pmAll matches to be played at Gharafa Stadium