FIBA Asia - Syria hopeful of advancing from tough pool

TOKUSHIMA (FIBA Asia Championship) - Syria believe they have a fighting chance of advancing from the first phase at the 2007 FIBA Asia Championship after being named alongside Korea, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei in Group D.

Nade Nakdali of the Syria Basketball Association said after the draw in Japan: "I think that the (Group D) competition will be between three teams and Korea will be favourites to top the group.

"The second position will be between Chinese Taipei and Syria who will fight for the second place while Hong Kong could be the weakest link in the group."
Nakdali says neither he, nor the players, can wait for the tournament to begin.

"The players are ready and we will start our preparation starting from next week," he said.

"We will prepare through the West Asian Championship which will prepare us for the Asian Championship."

Group A is full of intrigue with China, Jordan, Iran and the Philippines.

The Championship is being used as a qualifying tournament for next year's Beijing Olympics.

Since China have qualified for the Summer Games as hosts of the event, the rest of the teams will battle for a spot at the Olympics.

Jordan and Iran finished in the sixth and seventh places, respectively, at the last Asian Championship, and China will not be pushovers.

Jordan Basketball Association president Tarek Al Zobi said: "Now that the draw is held, I think that Group A is labelled the "group of death" and it will see tough competition.

"Jordan's chances will not be great but we will try our best to compete and prepare well for the tournament."

Chot Reyes, the coach of the Philippines, said: "Unfortunately, we're in the 'group of death'. (But) This team and this country have come too far to be denied.

"It is not our style to dwell on negatives, so our only focus now is how to beat Iran and Jordan."

In Group B are Lebanon, a team which finished second at the last FIBA Asia Championship, along with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Japan.

Lebanon had some bright moments at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan which included an upset of France, despite having their build-up to that tournament being severely disrupted by the political conflict in the region.

The assistant coach of the Lebanese team, George Kalzi, said: "In principle, we should not have any problems qualifying from the group.

"The group is hard as Japan will be hosting the tournament and will play in front of their fans while we know the teams of Saudi Arabia and UAE and their style of play.

"I hope that we will have luck by our side and that we will have a good campaign like we did in the previous tournaments."

The national team manager of the UAE, Munir bin Al Habib, admitted his team faced a very difficult task of advancing from the group.

"We have played against Lebanon previously in 1999 and 2001 and it will not be the first time that we play against them," he said.

"As for Japan, they are hosts of the tournament and will be favourites to qualify along with Lebanon to the next round.

"After winning the Gulf Cup, the Asian Championship will be the first tournament for UAE young players and we will go into the tournament with a realistic ambition of improving the results that we had previously as we finished 10th in 2001 and 1999.

"As for our preparations, we had to wait for the availability of the players and we will start a closed camp in Dubai from the middle of June to July 9 when we will have a training camp in France until July 23 before leaving to Tokushima."

FIBA