First publication: Walid al-Hamed al-Alawi, who is close to the Bahraini royal family, is expected to arrive in Israel soon and sign a cooperation agreement with the basketball association.
Amiram Halevi.
Open a window to the bay
Photography:
Alan Shiver
Al-Alawi.
Will arrive in Israel
The president of the Bahraini Basketball Association, Walid al-Hamed al-Alawi, is expected to arrive in Israel in the coming weeks and sign a cooperation agreement with the Israel Basketball Association, Israel Today has learned for the first time.
Options include exchanging delegations of professionals from both countries, showcase games with the participation of the selected teams of different ages, and perhaps also economic collaborations and finding businessmen from the country who will invest in basketball clubs in Israel.
Al-Alawi, who is close to the ruling royal family in Bahrain, is considered one of the country's top businessmen and serves, among other things, in a senior position at Gulf Air.
At the beginning of the month, he was one of the leaders of the economic delegation, which came to Israel from Bahrain and met with senior figures in the Israeli economy.
He now plans to come to Israel specifically to promote sports cooperation with members of the Basketball Association.
In September, shortly after the normalization agreements were signed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, the chairman of the basketball association, Amiram Halevi, sent a letter to his colleagues in the two countries requesting cooperation.
"As someone who believes that sports, and basketball in particular, are a platform for acquaintance, connection, appreciation, recognition and mutual acceptance of people from different backgrounds, I have no doubt that with basketball we can bring about connection and friendship between our peoples, especially at younger ages," Halevy wrote. "I am confident that cooperation between the unions will help us promote sports in our countries. We will be happy to meet with you to get acquainted and discuss possible ways of professional cooperation between the unions at all levels and at all ages."
The basketball association estimates that in the coming months, developments will also apply to the UAE basketball association, and the intention is to create more collaborations in the future.