UAE - Basketball has great future ahead

From www.khaleejtimes.com
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Basketball in the UAE has come a long way since the formation of the UAE Basketball Association in the mid 1970s. The national team have competed creditably well in a number of international competitions winning the AGCC Basketball Championship twice in 2002 and 2007 at the senior level.

The junior national team also finished the runners-up behind Saudi Arabia in Sharjah last year. UAE at the moment rank fifth in the Arab world following the last championship in Egypt.

UAE’s meteoric rise is attributed to several factors including a sound foundation of good administration instituted in the late 1970s. The former director of Dubai Immigration Department, Abdullah Hareb, was one of the early presidents of the association.

Hareb was succeeded by Qasim Sultan, the former director of Dubai Municipality followed by the present president, Ismail Gargawi, who has kept the good work to raise the standard of the sport in the country.

Al Wasl put the country on the map of the continent last year when they finished third in Asia. They also clinched the runners-up spot in the AGCC Basketball Championship the same year.

UAE players are gaining the necessary experience through the annual Dubai International Basketball Championship. The event, which will be in its 19th year in 2009, attracts some of the best teams in the Arab world — Syria, Jordan and Egypt — to compete for the top honours. All the teams are studded with players from America, both current and former NBA players, Africa and Europe.

The UAE Basketball Association, throughout the years, has been fielding the national team, giving the local players the opportunity to play against some of the best teams in the region. The 18th championship last year saw the participation of Asian champions, Saba of Iran. Among the high-profile teams that participated in the championship last year included Egypt’s Al Jazeirah, Zain of Jordan, Al Riyadi, also of Jordan and Mahran (Iran).

In recognition of UAE’s effort to popularise the sport in the country, the International Basketball Federation (Fiba) invited two players, Talal Salim and Rashid Nasser, for a four-day international basketball camp in Shanghai Sports Institute.

The camp, organised by the world basketball governing body, Fiba, in association with the NBA, was dubbed ’Basketball without borders Camp Asia. The camp was attended by over 50 players from 17 countries in Asia.

Among some of the top names that attended the camp included China’s Yao Ming of Houston Rockets, former NBA star Scottie Pippen, Matt Carroll (Charlotte Bobcats), Chirs Duhon (Chicago Bulls) and Adonal Foyle (Golden State Warriors).The camp was also supervised by Wayne Chapmann (Denver Nuggets), Gary Colson (Memphis Grizzlies) and Jum Lynam (Philadelphia 76ers).

Ismail Gargawi, president of the UAE Basketball Association, said at the time: “This is a great honour and recognition by Fiba of the progress of the sport in the country.” The secretary-general, Abdullah Ansari added: “This is a great opportunity for our players and we hope they will learn a few things during the camp. We are delighted and proud of that.” Following the resignation of Zoran Zupcevic of Bosnia Herzegovina, the association has hired his countryman, Ostojic Mladen, to continue with the good work Zupecevic started. Mladen admitted he had a tough task of maintaining the high standard of the team left by his predecessor and compatriot Zurepcevic. “But I hope to work harder with the players to achieve something,” he said.

Some of the key players Mladen has to work with to bring further laurels to the country are Ibrahim Abdullah, Ayub Ahmed, Rashid Nasser (Al Wasl), Talal Salim, Qasim Mohammed, Saleh Sultan, Salim Obaid (Al Nasr), Mallalah Rashid, Matar Abdullah, Salim Mubarak (Sharjah), Adil Sadek (Al Shaab).