Team Lusail members, Qatar’s entry at the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Doha Masters, will go out on the court today, the first day of the event, with one thing on their mind: Lift the winner’s trophy tomorrow at Al Gharafa Beach Games Area. Having home-court advantage and the will to succeed is enough fuel for the players of head coach M o h a m m e d S a l i m Abdulla, a gold medal winner for Qatar at FIBA 3 x 3 W o r l d Championships. Lusail only assembled a couple of days ago for this tournament led by Greek All-Star guard Kostas Vasileiadis who joined Al Sadd club this season. Mame Souleye Ndour and Ousseynou Mbow will contribute with their vastly experience and the talented Hamza Maher Radi will add his enthusiasm.
For Vasileiadis, the 36-year-old player from Salonica, Greece, will be his first try on 3x3. “It is fun. Completely different from 5x5. It is a little different, but basketball is… basketball, same passion, same effort everywhere,” Vasileiadis said. “We have started to get to know each other and be ready for tomorrow’s tip off,” Vasileiadis said yesterday. “We want to win this tournament! We believe that we will be ready to make it to the end. We made a lot of shots in practice, the coach has prepared systems for us,” Vasileiadis said. Only a few lucky fans will be able to watch the tournament, as FIBA and the local organising committee honour the Ministry of Public Health's instruction that only 30 percent of the capacity of the arena will be full. “I hope for the people that will come and for those that will sit at home to enjoy these games live, I promise that we will give everything for you.
It will be a spectacular tournament,” Vasileiadis said. From his side, Coach Abdulla added: “I hope that everybody can play hard and enjoy the game of basketball. I trust my team and my players. They are all professionals, it is the first time that we come together as a group. Some teams have been participating on the tour for a long time. But I believe that good things should be expected from us”. The head of the team Talal Zaid Aldosari said: “The players are practicing well, it might be only our second day together, but I believe that we should play well. It is a great time for basketball in Qatar.” Team Lusail will open their campaign today 5:00 pm against Liman, a match for Pool A. The match against Manila Chooks will follow at 8:35 pm on the same day.
