Sports | Thursday 20 October, 2016 4:16 pm |

The Higher Organising Committee of the 3x3 Arab Women Basketball Tournament has announced that it has completed all preparations for the tournament, which will take place in Sharjah from October 30 - November 1, with the participation of 13 teams from six Arab countries.

Themed “Above the Rim, We Score”, the 3x3 Arab women basketball competition is organised by the Women Sports Department in Sharjah (WSD), in collaboration with the Arab Basketball Federation and the UAE Basketball Association, and through a strategic partnership with the Sharjah Sports Council.

Nada Al Naqbi, Director of Women Sports Department in Sharjah, Chairperson of the Women's Committee at the Arab Basketball Federation and Head of the Higher Organizing Committee of the Tournament, made the announcement yesterday during the meeting of the Technical Committee of the tournament.

The meeting was held in the presence of Noura Al Hamar, manager of the tournament, and the members of the technical and organisational committees, at the headquarters of the Women Sports Department.  

Following the meeting, Al Naqbi visited WSD’s gymnasium where she met the Sharjah Ladies Club female athletes and passed on greetings from HH Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Wife of the Ruler of Sharjah and Chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs, who strongly supports women’s sports in the Arab world.

Al Naqbi underlined the importance of maintaining the success of tournaments organised by the Women Sports Department, which has played a pioneering role in coordinating local, Arab and Asian sports competitions in terms of technical and logistics support. Al Naqbi urged the players to do their utmost to represent UAE women’s basketball with honour and pride and be dedicated to playing to the best of their abilities with the title as their ultimate goal. 

She said competing in regional tournaments is a natural step that gives basketball players the opportunity to shine and confidently compete in the 3x3 world championships – especially after the UAE won the title of the 3x3 World Men’s Championship, represented by Al Wahda Club, last year.  

Al Naqbi added: “We, at the Women Sports Department, always aspire to becoming number one in the sporting arena. We encourage our athletes to stand out at this regional competition and compete with top Arab women’s clubs because this is the key to competing on a global stage.”

  

 

 Noura Al Hamar added: “Our female players are prepared both technically and mentally to compete with confidence to win the cup. They have an excellent team spirit and are training hard every day. I believe Sharjah Ladies Club have the ability and the skills to win this prestigious title.”  

In 3x3 basketball competitions, each club can participate with more than one team. Each team consists of four female players, only three of which can be on the court at any one time with the fourth player acting as reserve. Each team can have a professional foreign player in its side. The basic rules of the tournament are the same as the original game but are played on one half of the court, using one basket. The winner is the team with the most points after 10 minutes unless one of the sides scores 21 points and automatically wins the match.