Landmark year for Lebanese women

NEWCASTLE (Paul Nilsen's Women's Basketball Worldwide) - The time is most definitely now for women’s basketball in Lebanon after 2011 provided a superb launch-pad for taking the sport forward in the country.

Last week, the national team wrapped up one of the most encouraging calendar years in their recent history by taking a gold medal at the Pan-Arab Games in Doha.

It's an achievement which comes hot on the heels of having participated in the top tier of the FIBA Asia Championship for the very first time earlier in the year.

Not surprisingly, head coach Vicken Eskejian is thrilled but also hoping even more ambition is showed from everyone concerned with women’s basketball in Lebanon so his thirst for continuous improvement and attaining further success can be quenched.
 
“Winning the gold medal means a lot for our country and for the women's national team,” he said.
 
“It's a boost of confidence for coming events and I certainly have confidence in God, myself and my players.
 
“It was also good for Lebanon to be in Level A at the FIBA Asia Championship but this alone is not enough.
 
“We should compete and set higher goals such as a qualification to the FIBA World Championships one day.”
 
Eskejian continued: “It's been important for me to prove myself and to win the trust of my Federation to help us achieve more for our country.
 
“All I ask is the opportunity to further prove myself with the players.

”I hope I’ll have the support to set a programme for coming years - to build a team to compete and not just participating.
 
“We should start from now.”
 
One of the most encouraging aspects for Lebanon is the age profile of the current national team. They have enjoyed a positive 2011 and won gold with a relatively inexperienced team – a fact not lost on Eskejian.
 
He said: “The tournament is big in the region but the level wasn't so high for us.
 
“However, with a young team we did well and I’m happy for not just Lebanon but also my players and especially the young ones.
 
“The tournament team age average was only 22 years old.
 
“We have some young players and I gave them a chance during the tournament to improve and therefore have more confidence for the future and for higher level FIBA tournaments.”

According to Eskejian, one of the biggest barriers to Lebanon realising their ambitions could be the lack of depth and competitiveness in the domestic women’s league.
 
Ironically, unlike some other leagues where a perceived excessive number of import players has caused debate and even tension, the coach feels Lebanese players could actually benefit from playing with and against more import players.

“Our league level is not so high and we have only a few teams and no competition whatsoever since it's known before time that Antranik will win the Championship by a big margin,” bemoaned Eskejian.
 
“We should have foreigners in the league in order to improve as players and as a league.

"This would also help the national team too.”
 
The alternative scenario would be for more Lebanese players to get experience in European basketball, but unfortunately their status is proving a barrier right now.

Ideally, a player would make the breakthrough and be a trailblazer in the likes of EuroCup or EuroLeague Women where they would represent Lebanon playing against elite players.

Eskejian said: "We do have some talents and if they had the opportunity, they could be playing in Europe. But since Asian players are considered as foreigners, European teams prefer to have higher level WNBA players as their import or Bosman players.

”So it's still early to dream like that but if we have a long-term programme, we can reduce the gap.
 
“Even if we are still pretty far from reaching that kind of level.”
 
So, while there is still undoubtedly a long way to go for women’s basketball in Lebanon, opportunity knocks in the wake of a progressive and satisfying 2011.

Paul Nilsen

FIBA

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