FIBA West Asia Super League Final 8:
New-look Shahrdari to renew Sagesse rivalry in Group B
Iranian club Shahrdari Gorgan has been drawn alongside Lebanese powerhouse Sagesse SC, Saudi Arabia’s Al Ula Club and Qatar’s Al Arabi SC in Group B of the upcoming FIBA West Asia Super League Final 8, which will kick off on Sept. 25 in Zouk Mikael, Lebanon.
The draw for the regional eight-team showpiece took place in Beirut on Saturday, with two-time defending champion Al Riyadi Beirut, Saudi Arabia’s Ittihad Club, Kuwait SC and India’s Indian Railways completing the cast in Group A.
The teams will be involved in a round-robin group phase, after which the top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals.
Shahrdari will enter the Final 8 on the back of a third-place finish in Group A in the preliminary phase, winning three of its seven outings – including a 97-92 triumph over Sagesse in November.
The Iranian club, however, will face a particularly difficult challenge this time around after undergoing major changes in recent months, with the club losing virtually its entire original roster and making changes to its coaching staff ahead of the Final 8.
The Gorgan-based club will be without several of its key figures, including Iranian internationals Mobin Sheikhi and Peter Gregorian, as well as American duo Perry Petty and Jordan Hamilton, who have all left the club.
Mehran Hatami has taken over as head coach, leaving the club’s new-look squad with limited time to prepare for the competition against some of the star-studded teams in West Asia.
Shahrdari’s best result in the previous three editions came in the 2023/24 season, when the Iranian club defeated Kuwait SC in the third-place playoff.