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With almost a week to go before their first match on September 23, Qatar’s basketball players are sweating it out in Incheon where they fancy an outside chance of finishing on the podium. |
Four years ago at the Guangzhou Asian Games, Qatar found themselves unlucky to draw China in the quarter-finals and crashed out after losing 71-66 in a close encounter.
Asian superpowers China eventually went on to win the title with a tense 77-71 win over South Korea and Iran defeated Japan 74-66 to claim the bronze.
Qatar eventually finished a creditable fifth in the placings with wins over Jordan and the Philippines. At their practice facility in Incheon, however, Guangzhou was far from their minds as they went about their training under Greek coach Vasilis Fragkias hoping to cause a few shocks at the Asian Games.
“Of course we are very hopeful of doing well,” Fragkias told the Qatari media. “We have acclimatized well and the boys are showing a lot of intent. They know they have a job to do.”
Fragkias, who took charge of the team only about six months ago, came through the Greek coaching system and has done several clincs in the US, with many involving NBA teams.
He was enthused by the fact that his team got to play a few friendly matches against local first division sides, which he felt was a great way of getting used to the style of play adopted by their potential rivals China, South Korea and Japan.
“Practice matches are never the real thing but they help you get a feel of how things are shaping up for you and give you an idea about what might be in store ahead,” said Fragkias.
“Some of the teams we practised against were similar in style to the fancied teams in Asia which is always a great help.”
Qatar, however, are not sure who their first opponents would be on September 23 as they would be coming through the qualifiers which are yet to begin.
“Yes, there is a bit of suspense about that but that is inconsequential because we are automatically in the main draw and we need to tackle whoever comes our way,” added Fragkias.
However, there was an element of doubt about Qatar talisman and captain Yasin Ismail Moosa who is nursing a sore shoulder.
Yasin, however, did not miss yesterday’s training session and was seen practising free throws and doing other non-contact drills, albeit a tad gingerly.
“Yasin is a our captain and leader and the players look up to him. Just having him in the group is in itself a great help especially when it comes to motivating other players,” Fragkias opined.
The player himself was confident about getting fit in time for the big games.
“I am not going full blast in training at the moment as I don’t want to aggravate the pain,” he said. “I am sure things will fall in place as the days go by and I would be able to play a couple of practice games before our first match in the competition on September 23.”
Yasin, a veteran of many a battle, had starred in Qatar’s historic 3x3 World Championship win in Moscow last June, a moment he said he would never forget.
“It’s undoubtedly one of the best moments of my career because it was the first time Qatar was winning a world title in any sport,” Yasin had said then.
But he was under no illusions about the task on hand Qatar have at the Asian Games where they will be playing the regular format.
“Of course it’s going to be much tougher here,” he said.
Qatar squad:
Yasin Ismail Moosa (captain), Mohamed Abdullah al-Salim, Mohamed Hassan, Irfan Saeed, Khaled Suleiman Abdi, David Moses, Omar Kader Mansour, Bakr Ahmed, Mohamed Yusuf, Ahmed Darwish, Bonnie Watson.
