JAKARTA (2015 FIBA Asia U16 Championship) – Lebanon coach Salim Chemali placed high respect and praise for the character shown by his team while beating Japan 84-70 in a needle Group E encounter thus ensuring their progress to the Quarter-Finals.

"We have had to face many issues before coming here," Chemali said.

"We came with almost non-existent preparations, had to fight severe jet lag before our first game, then lost our next game to Taipei and then had to fight our way back into the competition.

"The boys have shown tremendous character to achieve what they have," he said.

Lebanon came through the rigors of WABA's twin-leg qualification system and Chemali considered the time spent together mattered a lot.

"There are only three players here who were not with us in the WABA qualification.

"That in a manner of speaking is compensating for the lack of our preparations," he said.

The coach was in particular praise of the defensive efforts of the team against Japan.

“We had a very good game both defensively and offensively, but what I was most impressed with was the defensive efforts we put,” he said.

“The players are executing most of what we are doing in training, I’m happy with how they are responding to my calls."

FIBA