JEDDAH — The Saudi Basketball Federation opened its first division action with six games Thursday. There were two games in Madinah where Ansar beat Qadisiah 73-51 and Ohud downed Nahdah 93-77. In Makkah, Wehdah scored a 68-63 win over Hilal, while, in Hassa, Fath beat Nasser 79-66. In Jeddah Ittihad thrashed Jubail 90-42 and Ahli rounded out the night winning against Khaleej 77-69. Saudi Basketball Legends were, meanwhile, honored at a recent ceremony here. Among those present were: Gassan Abdul Hamid, former Ittihad point guard and now Assistant Coach of the team; Waleed Al-Rashwan, former Ahli player, and now a basketball analyst who also has a weekly program on NBA action shown on Saudi TV; Abdul Jalil Sayeed, one of the strongest players from Madinah who helped Ohud win a few championships; Abdul Moshen, Ohud point guard and the oldest and longest active player in the world; Abdul Rahman Falata, former Ittihad ace who was known as the Mayor of Basketball and now works with Prince Talal Mansour; Farid Zahid, was a top scorer at Ittihad and is an Assistant Commissioner, Tech. Consultant of the Asia Basketball Federation and businessman; Hassan Abtallah (Ittihad), the Saudi basketball giant who is with Saudi Airlines; Bilal Sayeed (Ahli) is a retired teacher and coach; Ahmed Falata, is an Ittihad administration; Abdul Rahman Saheen, point guard for Ittihad, is now Head Coach and basketball and sports development official at King Abdul Aziz University; Captain Assad (Ahli), the Bulldozer was captain of the national team and now runs Gold's Gyms Basketball program. Many more of the Saudi Basketball Legends were not in attendance, but are still working and helping the youth and the clubs improve basketball in the Kingdom.
