Riyadi and Hurrieh fight for lead

By Aline Bannayan - Jan 15,2016 - Last updated at Jan 15,2016

AMMAN — The Premier Basketball League enters Week 4 on the weekend with matches that will determine the league leader halfway through Round 1.

Unbeaten Riyadi and Hurrieh come to head on Saturday after scoring three wins each. Riyadi last beat Jalil 57-51 while Hurrieh beat Ghazzet Hashem 70-61.

Titleholders Orthodoxi, who went down to Hurrieh in the opening week, are still third after they beat Awdeh 79-66 and next play Nashama. Kufr Youba scored their first win over Nashama 59-49 and moved from last spot ahead of their match against Jalil, while Ghazzet Hashem play Awdeh.

Orthodoxi won their record 23rd league title last year and started off the season by winning the Jordan Cup, beating closest rivals Riyadi in the final minutes of the match.

Apart from Orthodoxi and Riyadi, the basketball league has undergone many changes with the leading clubs abandoning the game. Former champs Applied Science University (ASU) and Ittihad have pulled out of competitions over differences with the Jordan Basketball Federation and players have been dispersed over the rest of clubs. New clubs with no fan base are competing, in what is seen as a sharp decline in the game locally as well as Jordan’s regional competitive chances.

“It’s a league where players have been dispersed over many clubs. That has somewhat served the game, but in order to raise the bar of competition all sides need to implement drastic changes,” Riyadi coach Marwan Matouk told The Jordan Times.

The former national team star underlined that a strategy needed to be implemented as soon as possible to serve the game in the long run, with regulations governing the game geared to serve clubs and the national teams as well.

“We will play hard for the title this year,” Matouk added of his team despite the fact of injuries plaguing the line-up, which has also undergone major changes. “We hope the new clubs competing will remain in the game and work on raising the level of competition.” That is the first step at this stage, Matouk noted.

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