Doha: The Qatari national basketball team faced defeat against Lebanon, concluding the match with a score of 69-72 during the third and final round of the second edition of the Doha International Friendly Basketball Championship.
This event took place on Sunday evening at Qatar University Hall, characterized by an enthusiastic atmosphere and attended by notable figures including Mohammed bin Saad Al Mughaiseeb, President of the Qatar Basketball Federation (QBF), Saadoun Sabah Al Kuwari, Secretary-General of QBF, members of the Board of Directors of QBF, and Fouad Gerges, Founder and CEO of Step Ahead Company.
The tournament, organized under the auspices of the Qatar Basketball Federation in collaboration with Step Ahead Company, featured four participating teams: the host nation Qatar, Egypt, Lebanon, and the Philippines.
The Lebanese team demonstrated its strength by leading the first quarter with a score of 23-21, showcasing a robust collective effort. However, the Qatari team rebounded in the second quarter, securing a 19-15 advantage.
In the third quarter, Lebanon regained its momentum, finishing with a 14-12 score in their favor, and continued to dominate in the final quarter, which ended 20-17, thus sealing their victory at 72-69.
Highlighting individual performances, Gerard Hadidian from the Lebanese team emerged as the standout player, scoring 23 points and earning the title of the match’s best player. For Qatar, Mustafa Fouda led the scoring with 21 points.
With this victory, the Lebanese team accumulated a total of 5 points, while the Qatari team stands at 3 points. Previously, the Qatari team had lost its opening match to the Philippines with a score of 71-74 and suffered another defeat against Egypt, ending that match 54-83.
The Lebanese team lost its first match to the Egyptian team “82-70”, before achieving a deserved victory over the Philippine team “75-54”.
The tournament comes within the framework of the Qatari team’s preparations for the third window of the qualifiers for the 2025 Asian Cup, where the Qatari team will host its Kazakh counterpart on February 21, before hosting the Indian team at Al Gharafa Hall in Doha on the 24th of the same month, as part of the matches of Group Five, which also includes the Iranian and Indian teams.
It is worth noting that the QBF had organized the first edition of the international friendly tournament in February 2024, which witnessed the participation of six teams: Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Central Africa, and Jordan. The Egyptian team was crowned champion of the tournament in its first edition after defeating the Qatari team in the final match with a score of “82-67”.
