The future of Lebanon’s most prominent basketball coach has been thrown into doubt after reports of his resignation from champions Sagesse and signing up with arch-rivals Sporting.
The Beirut daily, Al-Mustaqbal reported in its Wednesday edition that Coach Ghassan Sarkis, who led Sagesse to six titles in a row since 1998, five consecutive Lebanon Cups, two Arab Championships and two Asian Championships has submitted his resignation to the Sagesse board of directors.
The resignation was allegedly due to “pressures at the club and the recent bad atmosphere surrounding the game.”
The news follows the recent Lebanese Basketball Federation Board elections that stirred controversy. Sarkis was reported to disapprove of the role played by his club’s administration.
Yahshoushi said that “Sarkis is not related to the LBF elections, but he has privately expressed his support of our position and insisted that Sporting shouldn’t have
acted as they did.”
Sarkis, who took over the reins of the highly rated Lebanese national team this year while also keeping his job at Sagesse, has been out of reach for the last two days and would not answer his telephone.
The alleged resignation comes after weeks of speculation that Sporting offered Sarkis their coaching job; said to interest him. Sources from the national team, where Sarkis is currently present have also confirmed the deal with Sporting.
However, Sporting president Hisham Jaroudy denied any knowledge of the resignation and insisted that Sporting had not offered Sarkis a job. He added ominously, however, that “Sarkis used to coach Sporting and we hope that he returns to coach our team once again.”
When contacting another source at the Sporting Club, who preferred to remain anonymous, he insisted that the resignation was indeed true, also confirming Sporting’s offer.
“Initially, we thought the chances of getting him were slim, but now it appears we have a 50 percent chance.”