Saleh Fareed

JEDDAH: Jeddah is gearing up to host the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 tournament from Aug. 5-17, featuring the best teams from across Asia and Oceania.

Sixteen teams will compete in the 31st event. Group A includes Australia, Lebanon, Qatar and South Korea. Group B includes Guam, Iran, Japan and Syria. Group C includes China, India, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Group D includes Iraq, New Zealand, the Philippines and Taiwan.

The FIBA Asia Cup tournament returns to Saudi Arabia after it was held in Riyadh 1997 and will take place at King Abdullah Sports City Hall in Jeddah, which has a capacity of more than 15,000 seats.

The Saudi Basketball Federation announced on Sunday the official roster of the national team that will participate in the FIBA Asia Cup Saudi Arabia 2025.

The squad will include 12 players. These are: Marzouq Almuwalad, Mohammed Almarawani, Muhammad Ali, Mathna Almarawani, Muhammed Alsaqer, Fahad Bilal, Khalid Abdelqader, Mohammed Alsuwailem, Ali Shubayli, Manaf Alsalem, Thamer Mohammed and Musab Qadi.

In preparation for the tournament, the Saudi national team began its preparations and camp at the end of last June in Jeddah, then moved to Istanbul to play several friendly matches against the national teams of Algeria (two matches), Kuwait, Tunisia and Iraq, where the team achieved victory against the national teams of Kuwait and Iraq.

Later, the Saudi national team completed its preparations in Doha by playing in the Lusail International Friendly Championship, where they faced the national teams of Qatar, Iraq and Japan. They had a mixed Lusail Cup — a confidence-boosting win over Iraq (91-76) but also losses to Qatar and Japan.