BEIRUT (2011 FIBA Asia Championship) - After weeks of yo-yoing, the Lebanese Basketball Federation (FLB) has put veteran Lebanese coach Ghassan Sarkis in charge of its men’s national team for the upcoming FIBA Asia Championship.

In an unprecedented method of voting, eight out of the 15 members of the FLB's Basketball Committee voted in favour of the 54-year-old against his long time archrival Fouad Abouchakra.

Abouchakra’s Al Riyadi Beirut had defeated Sarkis’ Champville in this year’s FLB A Division League Finals.

Abouchakra, incidentally, was also the last “home” coach to train the Lebanese national team, at the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Greece.

Lebanon qualified directly for the FIBA Asia Championship after winning the 3rd FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup at home last year.

However, recently the process of selecting the coach of the national team has been a veritable landmine of unconvincing decisions.

Firstly, Tab Baldwin, who led Lebanon at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, was sacked and the American-New Zealander subsequently moved to take over the reins of Jordan.

American Sam Vincent was named as the head coach only to be replaced a mere 24 hours later by German Peter Schoemers.

And even as Schoemers - who had an impressive 2009-10 season with Hoops in the Lebanese league - was preparing to put together his plans came the decision to vote between Sarkis and Abouchakra.

If reports are to believed, Sarkis signed a contract lasting until the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship, but his first task will be to guide the team at this year's continental tournament.

“I want to thank Tony Khalil, the Federation including the members who voted against me, the basketball fans and every person who believes in me,” Sarkis was quoted as saying in the Lebanese press.

“I will do my best to meet their expectations. I will also give everything I have to make Lebanon proud."

Incidentally, this is Sarkis' first time in charge of Lebanon's senior national team.

Among his notable achievements are back-to-back FIBA Asia Champions Cup titles with Al Hikmeh Sagesse (1999 and 2000).

More recently, Sarkis was the coach of the Lebanese U18 National Team, which won the WABA U18 championship, but finished seventh in the FIBA Asia U18 Championship at Sana’a (Yemen) last year.

FIBA Asia