FIBA-Asia affirms Lebanon ban

MANILA, Philippines - There will be no reprieve for Lebanon at the FIBA-Asia Championships here on Aug. 1-11 as national team manager Georges Kelzi yesterday confirmed the stay of suspension until internal squabbles involving the local federation are settled to result in the lifting of an indefinite ban.

The Lebanese team arrived in Manila to set up a 14-day camp last Monday even as FIBA announced the suspension the Thursday before during the Jones Cup in Taiwan. Lebanon was crushed, 109-66, by a US selection two days after the suspension was disclosed. The next day, Lebanon forfeited its game against Iran to finish the Jones Cup with a 2-6 record, beating only Japan, 79-72 and Chinese-Taipei, 83-63. The losses included cliffhangers to Egypt, 64-62, Jordan, 69-67 and Korea, 61-52.

Kelzi said star Fadi El Khatib was supposed to join the team in Manila yesterday as he was in Beirut for family reasons but cancelled the trip. Lebanon was scheduled to play Globalport in a practice game at San Juan Arena yesterday and Barako Bull on Sunday but Kelzi said both tune-ups have been scrapped. As of presstime, Kelzi said he was trying to rebook the team’s tickets to return to Beirut this morning.

“Of course, we’re very sad,” said Kelzi. “No more games in Manila. The players feel bad. We know the team has many Filipino fans and we’re as disappointed not to play as they are. There were three to four points that FIBA wanted the federation to resolve before lifting the suspension but only two were settled. No time limit was announced for the suspension. I understand once the local issues are resolved, FIBA will send a representative to Beirut to assess the situation before deciding whether or not to lift the ban.”

Kelzi said the team will retain naturalized player Loren Woods. “We will keep him,” said Kelzi, one of 19 FIBA-licensed coaches in Lebanon. “We don’t know what his plans are, if he’ll stay in Beirut or go back to the US to visit family. Like our other players, he’s very sad about what happened to our team.”

Lebanon was initially bracketed in Group B with Japan, Qatar and Hong Kong. After FIBA announced the suspension, Iraq was named to take over Lebanon’s spot. Iraq finished fourth behind Iran, Lebanon and Jordan in that order in the West Asia qualifiers in Tehran last Feb. 7-9. Iraq, however, begged off from participating and FIBA-Asia tried to bring in the United Arab Emirates which did not even participate in the West Asia qualifiers. In the end, FIBA-Asia secretary-general Hagop Khajirian of Lebanon decided to reduce the competing teams from 16 to 15 without the United Arab Emirates.

Lebanon would’ve played the Philippines in the second round of eliminations before the start of the knockout quarterfinals. Gilas’ goal is to finish first or second after two rounds so as to avoid facing either China or Iran in the knockout quarterfinals.

In a press statement, Khajirian said, “We tried our best to find a replacement team but given the short period of time available, we couldn’t find any.” Group B will be reduced to three teams as a result. “We may move a couple of games from the Ninoy Aquino Stadium to fill the gap left by the games Lebanon was scheduled to play,” he continued. “We are in the process of finalizing this.”

The suspension was meted out on the basis of “the disruption of the Lebanese national championship due to political and judicial interferences.” An attempt to reach a compromise was scuttled even as FIBA-Asia sought to protect players, technical staff, sponsors and fans who would be disenfranchised by the ban. Last June 28, FIBA urged the Lebanese federation to resolve the problems immediately but “the Lebanese basketball family was not in the position to meet the requirements outlined and must now assume the consequences of its organizational deficiencies and actions.”

Beirut was previously tapped to host the 27th FIBA-Asia Championships but gave up the rights because of civil unrest. Last October, the FIBA-Asia Champions Cup finals between Al Riyadi Beirut and Mahram Tehran was postponed indefinitely due to unsafe conditions in the Lebanese capital. The title game remains unplayed to this day. After evaluating the Beirut situation, FIBA-Asia decided to award the hosting privilege to Manila instead.