Micheal Madanly is proud of Syria's big hearts

BEIRUT (FIBA Asia Cup 2017) - Micheal Madanly and the rest of Syria were a couple of baskets short of making the Semi-Finals, but now they're left to pick up the pieces of their collapse.

The Syrians looked well on their way to a giant-sized upset two nights ago, leading by 12 entering the fourth period of their Qualification to the Quarter-Finals match with China, but their guns went silent and their defense became porous in the final ten minutes of play. It was a sorry result for a squad that made their return to the premier FIBA Asia stage for the first time since 2011, even more so because this is, by all probability, the final FIBA Asia Cup of legendary scorer Madanly, who was his vintage high-scoring self, exploding for 35 points against the Chinese.

It was a bittersweet end for Madanly, who certainly would trade his scoring output for a win any day. He recently talked about Syria's overall performance and other sentiments with FIBA.basketball.

How do you feel about the result of your game against China?
I feel very sad because we have just gave away that game. I believe that we deserved the win.

Overall, how would you asses Syria's performance in your first Asia Cup since 2011?
In some points we did very well but what we have missed is the chemistry. So overall I think lot of people were impressed because we did play with a big heart .

Will this be your last Asia Cup, since the next one is in 2021?
By that time I will be 40 years old!! So it's tough to say that, but I think, yes, this was my last one.

Which teammate of yours really impressed you in this tournament?
Jamil Saddir and Tarek Al Jabi really impressed me in this tournament.

What can you say about the future of Syrian basketball?
We need to work so hard to bring Syrian basketball back, and we have to work on our younger generation. We need to double the effort, but so far the future is still a mystery.

FIBA