JEDDAH, 25 January — Saudi Companies Basketball Association (SCBA) president Talat Alam surprised basketball aficionados in all of Jeddah as he cornered a one-year contract with the Al-Ahli Stadium management last week.
The move was seen as a serious bid for the enterprising Saudi basketball patron who early this month forged a similar one-year deal with the Al-Ittihad initiating a series of giant-killing coups to cement a basketball blitzkrieg for the SCBA and its allied organizations.
The SCBA president also said that the Arrow Food Distribution Co. represented by its marketing manager Matthew Makaraem will act as the principal sponsor of the forthcoming 3rd SCBA Invitational Basketball Tournament at the Al-Ittihad gym on Feb. 15, 2002.
Alam along with Saudi basketball legend Ali Sanhani were the main architects in bringing the popular PBA ballclub Shell Turbochargers for a series of Friendship Games, the biggest basketball extravaganza of 2001 here in Jeddah. The enterprising SCBA president said that the twin moves is to douse speculations from some quarters about the identity of the basketball outfit that would be in charge of conducting basketball events in the city in the two biggest indoor basketball facilities of Jeddah other than the Jeddah Hall. A copy of the agreement forged by the SCBA with both Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad management were furnished by Mr. Alam’s spokesman Salvador "‘Boy" Teves of Al-Gomri for Sports tailoring.
"There are other groups who keep approaching basketball teams that they will conduct basketball tournaments in either Al-Ittihad or Al-Ahli, it is not going to happen," Alam said categorically.
He issued his concern to prospective teams not to enter into haphazard deals with other basketball groups so as to avoid being short-changed to a sudden transfer of venue later once commitments have been struck.
