Doha, November 18 (QNA) – The sub-qualifiers (B) for the Asian region for the Men’s Cricket World Cup (T20) of the International Cricket Council will kick off on Tuesday, hosted by Doha and will continue until Nov.28.
Khalid Saleh Al Rumaihi, Secretary-General of the Qatar Cricket Committee and Director of the Tournament, confirmed during a press conference Monday that all preparations have been finalized for the start of the competitions, as 7 teams are participating in the qualifiers: Qatar (the host), Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the Emirates, Thailand, Cambodia and Bhutan, where 3 matches will be held daily starting on Tuesday, at the West End International Cricket Stadium in the Asian region and the Doha University of Science and Technology Stadium, while the teams will rest on the twenty-first, twenty-fourth and twenty-seventh of this month.
Al Rumaihi added that 12 resident referees and 21 referees from the International Federation will manage the competitions, wishing all teams success and the best team qualifying for the second stage of the qualifiers.
Regarding the Qatari team’s preparations to participate in the qualifiers, he said that the team held internal training camps in Qatar, and played many friendly matches with a number of Asian and Arab teams, noting that the team members are fully prepared to participate in the competitions and achieve a positive result.
He pointed out that the qualifiers system stipulates that the first and second place winners from the sub-qualifiers qualify for the main qualifiers for the Men’s Cricket World Cup /T20/, the location of which will be determined later.
For his part, Khalid Al Suwaidi, Executive Director of the Qatar Cricket Committee and Assistant Director of the Tournament, confirmed that the committee began preparing to host these qualifiers more than two months ago in order to hold the competitions in the best possible way in all organizational and technical aspects.
Al Suwaidi noted the readiness of the Qatari cricket team to compete, as the team held more than one internal training camp, indicating that the team has a strong chance of winning first or second place and qualifying for the main qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
He added that all participating teams started their training Moday, to be on a daily basis according to the pre-arranged schedule, stressing that the participating delegations praised the good organization, hospitality and quality of sports facilities provided by the Qatar Cricket Committee to host the tournament.
The Qatari cricket team will begin its journey in the tournament onTuesday by facing its Thai counterpart, then meet the Bhutanese team the day after on Wednesday, compete with the Cambodian team on the Nov.23, then face the Bahraini team on Nov.25 and play the UAE team on Nov.26 before concluding its journey in the qualifiers by meeting the Saudi team on the November 28. (QNA)
