Damascus-SANA
The head of the General Sports Federation, Firas Mualla, stressed the importance of the Syrian basketball team qualifying for the Asian finals, which will be held in Indonesia next August, after imposing himself strongly among the Asian teams despite the difficult circumstances that accompanied him during his participation in the third window of the qualifiers.
During the reception of our national team at the General Sports Union building in Damascus today, after its arrival from the Jordanian capital Amman, in which it competed in the last window of the qualifiers, Maalla explained that our team deservedly grabbed the qualification ticket despite the changes that occurred during this window and were out of its control, especially in the absence of a number of players. Influencers as a result of corona infection and will be up to the challenge in the upcoming finals.
The President of the General Sports Federation referred to the great effort made by the administrative and coaching staff of the team and its ability to double its efforts during the upcoming preparatory period, renewing its confidence in the temporary Basketball Federation until after the upcoming finals.
For his part, the interim president of the Basketball Association, Alaa Gokha Ji, pointed out that our team entered the third window competitions and set it on qualification and achieved what was required to start working for the next stage, which is to compete strongly in the Asian Championship, stressing that the federation will spare no effort to provide the requirements for winning.
The national team manager, Tarif Qutrash, reviewed the difficulties that the team faced during the last window of the qualifiers due to the absence of the American coach and the injuries sustained by a number of key players. Despite that, the players had a degree of responsibility on the field, and the new Russian coach, who was hired within a short period of time, managed to Finding the appropriate combination of players to achieve the desired goal, which is qualification.
Thinking about the next stage and participating strongly in the finals is what the players agreed upon, as they affirmed their determination to compete with the strongest teams in the Asian Championship to bring joy to the hearts of Syrians, especially basketball lovers, after many years of absence from the Syrian basketball.
Our team qualified for the Asian finals by defeating Qatar with a score of 67-56 points in the match that brought them together yesterday in the Jordanian capital, Amman, in the third and final window of the qualifiers.
The qualification of our team came in second place in the fifth group in the qualifiers with nine points, ahead of the Saudi team, which is equal in the same balance, and the Qatar team is in fourth place with seven points, knowing that the Iranian team is in the lead with 11 points.
The qualifiers system stipulates that the first and second place holders from the six groups in the first round qualify directly to the Asian Championship.
Hana Sokoor
