LIB - Inexperienced Lebanon won't stop fighting

WUHAN (FIBA Asia Championship) - There is no question Lebanon basketball is on the rise, having won three silver medals at the past five FIBA Asia Championships and finishing fourth at the other two.

After a 46 year absence from the tournament, their impressive return has seen them play at the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament and the past three FIBA World Championships, where on opening day in 2010 they shocked a Canadian team featuring Joel Anthony, Andy Rautins and Denham Brown.

While this sort of form would have them as one of the favourites to qualify for the London Olympics from the FIBA Asia Championship in Wuhan, Lebanon face an uphill battle, as coach Sarkis Ghassan fully understands.

"Before we came we knew it was going to be tough," he said. "Lebanon has a number of good players who have reached the age of retirement. So we had to take the chance and come here with a young team for a chance to win or make the final four."

Fadi El Khatib, Jackson Vroman, Rony Fahed and Matt Freije - the team's four leading scorers at the world championship - are not in Wuhan. Apart from their obvious on-court talents, it leaves a large leadership void.

In Ghasson's mind, the replacements for these stars haven't performed up to their capabilities. "The players are not performing well, I don't know if it is the pressure or what?" he said with a puzzled look. "We have some players who are technically very good but they keep missing lay-ups and open shots."

Ghassan hasn't given up hope though, knowing his team has troubled both Korea and Chinese Taipei despite performing well below their best. Lebanon had numerous chances to clinch victory against Taipei in the first game of the Second Round, but couldn't execute down the stretch as they fell 60-58.

While it appears a gold medal in Wuhan and direct qualification to London may be out of his team's reach, Ghassan believes that should Lebanon erase the simple errors that have cost them dearly so far, they could easily bounce back into medal contention and earn a place at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

"We have been trying to fix these errors from the start," he said. "But we have a chance, we never lose hope and we will always keep fighting."

FIBA