The Qatar national basketball team has left Doha for Suzhou, China, to take part in the third Atlas Basketball Challenge to be held from July 18 to 23.
The final 14-member roster for the team was named last Thursday night after four weeks of intense training.
Qatar Basketball General Secretary Ali al-Malki said. “Our team is much younger than usual, therefore it’s important to expose our players to global meets. Though this tournament will not have any impact on team rankings, it does provide a platform for international competition, and at the completion of the tournament we can assess our level”.  
Al-Malki continued “We thank the Chinese Basketball Association for their invitation and we are excited about playing against with top teams.”
National Head Coach Qusay Khalaf is pleased with his team’s selection. “We have chosen the best players based on performance. The Atlas challenge is a good stepping stone besides being a warm-up for the FIBA Asia Cup in Lebanon next month and the WC qualifiers in November.
“Although the competition is in its infancy it provides a high level of playing standards. My team is very youthful but they have great spirit and I like that in them. They will be exposed to prime basketball athletes from the best in the world including USA, Australia, China and Europe and hopefully the boys can bring home much experience,” Khalaf added.  
Rising forward Nasser Rayes, who recently arrived from the US, feels overwhelmed at the opportunity of playing for his country. “I’ve been waiting for this opportunity all my life. It was my dream to represent Qatar but I couldn’t do it before because I was committed to my studies and college basketball in the US,” he told QBF media.
Qatar has drawn group B of the challenge along with Australia, Lithuania and USA,  while FWC2019 host China is in group A alongside Belarus, Ukraine and Iran.
The July championship comprises of eight teams and will be played over six days at the Suzhou Sports Center and the Dushu Lake Arena. Qatar will meet Lithuania in their first match (July 18) followed by USA (July 19) and Australia (July 20).
Ahmad al-Darwish, Nasser al-Rayes, Mohameed Youssuf, Mohamed Erfan Saeed, Mansour Elhadary, Abdulraham al-Muftah, Mohamed Abdelazziz, Abdullah Matalkeh, Mohamed Hassan Mohamed, Abdulrahman Abdelhaleem, Abdulrahman Saad, Sammy Monroe, Omar Salem, Raslan al-Abdulla, Head coach Qusay Hatem Khalaf, Assistant Coach Yasser Abdelwahab and team manager Khalid Sulaiman comprise the Qatar delegation.
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