Amurrica basketball team, winners of the Doha Jam 2014. Amurrica beat The Heat 8-7 in yesterday's final
Aspire Logistics’ third annual three-on-three street basketball competition, Doha Jam, concluded yesterday. Local teams The Heat and Amurrica battled it out in a nail-biting final that saw Amurrica prevail by the narrowest of margins, pipping their opponents for an 8-7 victory.
George Mandely, captain of ‘Amurrica’, said: “It was a tough game. We know them very well, we play with them regularly. I really like this tournament because each year the competition gets tougher as the teams participating keep improving.”
Qatari team Al Shaqab claimed third place in the competition. Team captain and former professional Rashid al-Abdulla played for 21 years with Al Rayyan Sports Club. During his illustrious career, he won over 25 titles with the Qatari club. “We are happy we came third. Our experience helped us out on the court, but our fitness let us down and we struggled with back-to-back games,” he said.
Teammate Marzouq al-Mohannadi, known as ‘The Jordan of Asia’ who was voted ‘Best Player in the GCC’ in 2003 and nominated for the ‘Best Player in Asia’ in 2001, added: “It’s good to have a competition like this in Qatar. The street basketball game was only recently introduced here, and the fact that 16 teams competed at a very high level is a positive thing. I hope more Qatari teams will enter this tournament in the future.”
Scott Hettermann of Amurrica was adjudged the ‘Most Valuable Player’ for his stellar all-round show. Additionally, the winner of a social media competition which saw entrants attempt to identify the signature of a famous basketball player, was also announced. The winner, Camela Cabang, was awarded a basketball signed by Shaquille O'Neal.
And it weren’t just the competing teams who were in the thick of action, with audience members invited to participate in a half-time ‘free throw’ contest. Cheered on by an enthusiastic crowd, Racky Bauit from the Philippines eventually managed to net the ball, winning vouchers and a signed photograph of former US professional basketball player Alonzo Mourning.