FIBA Asia Under-18 Championship 2008

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The FIBA Asia Under-18 Championship 2008 is the 2008 edition of the FIBA Asia's youth championship for basketball. The games are held at Tehran, Iran

The top 3 teams qualify for the 2009 FIBA Under-20 World Championship.

The groups as below:


Group A

China
Japan
India
Hong Kong


Group B

Korea
Kazakhstan
Jordan
Saudi Arabia


Group C

Lebanon
Philippines
Taiwan
United Arab Emirates


Group D

Iran
Syria
Malaysia

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Day 1 (Aug 28)

China 115-61 Hong Kong

Japan 96-71 India

Jordan 110-83 Saudi Arabia

Korea 65-62 Kazakhstan

Philippines 106-105 Taiwan (Double Overtime)

Lebanon 76-61 United Arab Emirates

Iran 102-61 Malaysia

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Day 2 (Aug 29)

Japan 102-60 Hong Kong

China 98-49 India

Korea 78-69 Jordan

Kazakhstan 101-72 Saudi Arabia

Lebanon v Philippines

Taiwan v United Arab Emirates

Syria 100-63 Malaysia

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Ibrahim’s defiance clinches the issue for Lebanon

TEHRAN (FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Junior Men): This is one defiance Lebanon coach Rizkallah Zaloum won’t certainly complain about, as his side staged a superb fourth quarter surge to beat Philippines 87-84 in a Group C preliminary round game on Thursday.

Ahmad Ibrahim played all of the forty minutes of the game and even scored six times from behind the arc.

But the most important strike came with less than four seconds left in the game.

Much against his coach’s instructions – which were to drive in the lane – Ibrahim opted to take an attempt from behind the arc. And fortunately for him, and to the glee of his bench, that attempt found success.

Lebanon, bronze medalists at the last edition at Urumqi, thus emerged victorious and are almost assured of a place in the top rung of the Quarterfinal round.

“They (Philippines) were under foul penalty. So I instructed my players to go into the paint. I knew they wouldn’t touch us because of the free-throws,” Zaloum said.

“Everything in the play went according to plan, only that he (Ibrahim) chose to shoot from outside instead of driving in,” he added.

“Sometimes not listening to the coach helps,” he chuckled.

Ibrahim had earlier shouldered the burden of his side’s scoring in the first quarter scoring 13 points, as Lebanon strove to keep pace with Philippines.

Philippines, who had won after allowing Chinese Taipei to bounce back before winning in second Overtime on Wednesday seemed to have learnt their lessons.

The former six-time champions kept a small, but steady, lead throughout till the start of the fourth quarter.

Trailing 61-66, at the start of the fourth quarter, Lebanon ran a 13-3 spree that brought back the confidence in their trait.

Neither managed anything more than a two-point lead after that and at 84-84, with about twenty seconds left, Philippines’ Mathew Wright in his anxiety to score, committed a charge.

Lebanon played the ball into Ibrahim, who swerved on top the arc before unleashing the match winner.

Maikal El Nar led the scoring for Lebanon with a game-high 32 points.

Ryan Garcia topped the scoring for Philippines with 28 points.


Scores

Lebanon 87 (Mikael El Nar 32, Ahmad Ibrahim 24) bt Philippines 84 (Ryan Garcia 28). Quarterwise Scores: 21-22, 49-45, 61-66.

S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia

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In the other game of the group, Taiwan beat the UAE 80 to 54.

[Stonecold]

great results wish they can do something positive in the championship

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Lebanon wraps up the first round with a third win over Taiwan, 95-80.

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Lebanon Team

#4 AHMAD IBRAHIM - 199 cm G
#5 VINCENT EL KHOURI - 202 F
#6 HASSAN MAATOUK - 202 F
#7 MAIKEL EL NAR - 180 PG
#8 ELIAS EL HABER - 217 C
#9 KHALIL AOUN - 196 F
#10 PHILIPPE NADER - 190 SG
#11 HAYK GYOKCHYAN - 205 F
#12 RALPH AKL - 178 PG
#13 JAD MOUBARAK - 206 C
#14 JAD KABBARA - 182 SG
#15 JOSEPH ZALOUM - 176 PG

Coach: Rizkallah Zaloum

[Lebaneseforever]

when will the second round will start? And who do we play?

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Day 3 (Aug 30)

China 119-59 Japan

India 110-64 Hong Kong

Kazakhstan 101-79 Jordan

Korea 103-97 Saudi Arabia (Overtime)

Lebanon 95-80 Taiwan

Iran 100-73 Syria

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Quarter Finals

31 Aug

China vs Syria
Kazakhstan vs Lebanon
Japan vs Iran
Kora vs Philippines


Sep 1

Lebanon vs China
Syria vs Kazakhstan
Philippines vs Japan
Iran vs Korea


Sep 2

China vs Kazakhstan
Lebanon vs Syria
Japan vs Korea
Philippines vs Iran