Chemali proud of U18 success

BEIRUT: The Lebanese youth basketball team achieved its main objective last week, as they qualified for the upcoming FIBA Asia U18 Championship which will take place in Mongolia from August 18-26 after finishing second in round two of the West Asian qualifying section.

Head Coach Salim Chemali spoke to The Daily Star’s Sports Weekly about the tournament and his opinion regarding Lebanon’s performance and plans for the future.

“I think our result was good enough in comparison to what we had in terms of preparation time. We barely had three weeks with just few, very few, scrimmages and yet we were able to win all our games by 20-point margins except for the game against Iran which we lost,” Chemali said.

“I said prior the tournament that the Iranians are very well prepared, and they have almost six players who play in the top division, including their point guard [Sajjad Mashayekhi] who has 10 minutes average per game with Mahram, the Iranian giant.

“Meanwhile, our players are all playing on a low level, and not consistently. This is a big problem not only for this team, but for the whole of Lebanese basketball. I don’t know how the future will be if the system and the mentality remain the same.”

Lebanon had three consecutive wins – against Yemen (93-53), Jordan (75-50), and Syria (62-48) – before they lost against the champions Iran (64-81).

“We suffered against them [Iran] under the basket, as their size is a lot bigger than ours, and they were physically ready to play 40 minutes while we fell short of staying on the same momentum in the fourth quarter,” he said.

“I am not bragging but our defense was the better in the whole tournament. We were able to contain the offense of the opponents, to an extent where our basket received only 50 points per game in the first three games,” Chemali said.

Chemali expressed his satisfaction with earning second place, but revealed that the upcoming tournament demands a different work ethic and approach.

“We achieved our first goal, which is securing our spot in the Asian Championship in Mongolia. We have very little time to prepare for it, so we have to be ready quickly, and I will see with the federation what can be done to this team to improve our chances of achieving a good result over there.

“Iran, China, South Korea, Japan, Philippines are all historically good teams. They practice all throughout the year, and lately I heard that China entered a camp of 40 days in Serbia so for sure their objectives are high.

“If we want to match those teams, which isn’t easy in any way, we have to secure the same facilities for our team. We need camps, high-level games, a court to have our daily practices on.”

Having a few shortcomings in the roster, bringing young Lebanese players from abroad could be a solution, as Lebanon has a wide pool of athletes studying abroad, some of them are playing at high-school level in the U.S.

“We will think about it. And see if that is possible with the federation. But it’s a good idea to enhance our roster, and improve our chances to make it to the World Championship which is a dream after all,” Chemali said.

He assured that the team will get back to practice as soon as possible, with all the players playing with one heart for Lebanon. “We are one team, one unit and one goal. I have all my trust in the capabilities of the players,” he said.

(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)