The Lebanese national basketball team qualified Sunday for the semi-final of the 2003 Asian Basketball Championship, after beating India 117-82 in their last group match.
On Friday Sept. 26, the Lebanese team grabbed the first win in their group, which includes Japan, India and China. The win against Japan came after a tight match where the Lebanese players had to wait until the last quarter to take the lead and secure the win. The first quarter ended with a three point advantage, 25-22 for the Japanese team. However, the Lebanese squad regained the lead 41-40 at the half-time break after a strong second quarter.
After the break, both teams played a tight defense, which led to many missed shots, and each team was able to add 12 points to the scoreboard to end the quarter with a score of 53-52 to Lebanon. The last quarter witnessed a surge by the Lebanese players, who were able to dominate the Japanese, opening an eight point gap before ending the game with a 13 point advantage 76-63.
The leading scorer in the game was Lebanon’s point guard Rony Fahd with 20 points, while Elie Mouchantaf, Sabah Khoury and Ghaleb Rida scored 14, 13 and 11 points respectively.
Lebanon lost their second group match against the tournament favorites China, by 110-71. The Chinese were simply too strong for the Lebanese and won the game without facing any serious opposition. Lebanon trailed the whole game and the gap grew wider as the game progressed. The Lebanese team
suffered from the absence of some of their main players, like Fadi Khatib, Paul Khoury and Bryan Bechara.
Houston Rockets superstar center Yao Ming scored 33 points and grabbed 16 rebounds while Joe Vogel was the best Lebanese scorer with 19 points.
However, Lebanon was able to make up for the loss against China and won their decisive match against India 117-82 to book a spot in the semi-finals. The Lebanese players went into the game determined to win and controlled the match from start to finish with Ghaleb Rida leading the scorers by 25 points. Joe Vogel added 16 points, with Mohammed Ibrahim 15, and Rony Fahd 12 points.
China won group one with a perfect record of three wins in three games, while Lebanon finished second with two wins and one loss. In group two, South Korea topped the group with three victories, while Qatar came second with two wins over Iran and Kazakhstan.
Lebanon will face South Korea in the semi-final on Sept. 30 at 9am in Beirut, in a rematch of the last Asian Basketball Championship semi-final, which ended with a Lebanese win, 75-72.
China will take on Qatar in the second semi-final. The winner of the 2003 Asian Basketball Championship will represent Asia in the 2004 Olympics, held in Athens.