MANAMA (Bahrain) - Hesham Abdullah comes from Yemen. He is passionate about basketball and furthering the game in his war-torn country. He was given the opportunity to take part in the Asian Mini Basketball Convention in Bahrain on 22 and 23 November and did not hesitate to seize it, despite the danger that he would face getting to the event. Traveling to Bahrain was not easy, and his journey is a testimony to his passion and determination.

I come from a sporty family. My father is a big fan of Al Ahli club, he always wanted me to participate in club events and made me join at the age of 5.

I started by playing football. However, one day, at the age of 14 the coach didn't show up for training, so I joined the beginner’s basketball practice. The coach noticed my talent, and from there, I started playing basketball and never looked back.

Basketball is now my life, it has taught me teamwork, leadership, decision making, patience, friendship, discipline, the proper way of dealing with different people, confidence and the passion to win.

I give all the time and resources I can for the love of basketball because it means so much to me.

I was very happy when I found out I would be part of the Asian Mini Basketball Convention. It is a great addition to my basketball experience, and I hope to go back to Yemen and work on spreading the game amongst the youth as much as I can.

 However, getting to Bahrain was very challenging.

 I started my journey from my hometown Sana'a. Due to the political situation and the current war, Sana'a airport is closed therefore I couldn't travel directly from it.

 I had to travel in a van for 22 hours continuously on uncomfortable seats and along rugged roads to reach Adan.

Since Bahrain is part of the Alliance countries that are attacking Yemen, the military check points would not allow me to travel to Bahrain.

I had to take a big risk.

I had to fake a medical report stating that I have a knee injury and need to travel to Egypt for surgery.

After finally reaching Adan, I had to wait for my flight to Egypt locked in a hotel room for 1 whole day, hiding from the civilians that could have caused problems and issues since I belong to the Northern tribe which are their enemies.

Luckily, I had contacted players that I had coached long ago who happen to live in Adan, and they provided safe transportation from the hotel to the airport.

I traveled from Adan Airport to Cairo, waited 15 hours to catch the next flight from Cairo to Abu Dhabi.

After 3 hours of transit in Abu Dhabi, I finally managed to reach Bahrain in a safe journey that took approximately an hour.

Hesham is very grateful for his opportunity to be part of the Asian Mini Basketbal Convention. With the tools that he learned throughout the event, and having made a safe trip back to his hometown, he is looking forward to spreading the game of basketball in his country.