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A spirited display of middle eastern dance at the opening ceremony kicked off the West Asia Qualification Tournament for the Asian Para Games.
It was Jordan who opened the wheelchair basketball action up against Kuwait. The Kuwaitis came out determined to silence the home crowd and quickly took a 10 point lead at quarter time. They continued to press Jordan and by the long break had extended their lead to 20. The third period went the way of the home team, but they could not sustain their intensity and finally went down by 22 points, 60 to 38.
For Kuwait the scoring was spread evenly with Mohammad Algharib (14), Yousif Nasir (11), Nezar Mohammad (10) and Abdullah Boland (10) all reaching double figures, while for Jordan Mohammad Alkhazaleh played almost a lone hand to lead all scorers with 22 points.
The second game of the evening had pre-tournament favourites Iraq facing up against Bahrain. After an evenly contested first period, Iraq increased upped the intensity in the second, and won the second period, 17-5, to take a strong grip on the game. The third period saw Bahrain commit a number of costly turnovers as they wilted under the constant Iraqi pressure and high shooting percentage. The final period was a more even affair, but the game was well in the hands of Iraq as they ran out comfortable winners 80-34.
For the winners, Hayder Al Sarraji (26), Raad Al Khafaji (20) and Saif Al Taie (18) did the bulk of the scoring, while Ahmed Meshaima with 9 headed Bahrain’s scorers.
